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PSYCHOLOGY AS AN AID IN TEACHING 

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That scientific teaching is impossible without a 
knowledge of Psychology is no longer a debated ques- 
tion. But there is an important question in this con- 
nection which has not yet been answered : WHAT 
BOOK shall the hundreds of thousands of earnest 
teachers study who have not had the advantages of a 
college training ? 

i. Do they need a book which they can understand — 
a book whose apt illustrations bring abstract truths 
within the range of universal comprehension ? 

2. Do they need a book which makes it clear that 
there are questions which it does not attempt to answer, 
questions that no elementary text-book can hope to 
answer, and which will thus stimulate them to further 
study and further investigation ? 

3. Do they need a book which is constantly raising 
questions about their minds and the minds of their 
pupils — a book which will make them students of their 
own minds and the minds of their pupils in spite of 
themselves ? 

4. Do they need a book which is itself from beginning 
to end a perfect sample of the inductive method of 
teaching, beginning with the simple and the known and 
going to the complex and unknown ? 

5. Do they need a book which thousands of teachers 
have declared was the first to interest them in the study 
of mind ? 

If so, there is one book that will fully satisfy their 
needs. That book is Gordy's New Psychology. 

If you wish to see for yourself whether it possesses 
all of these characteristics send for a copy. It will cost 
you nothing if you do not like it. If you wish to keep 
it the price is #1.25. 

HINDS & NOBLE 

4-5-J3-H Cooper Institute - - New York City 



THE FOUNDATIONS 



OF 



EDUCATION 



BY 

/ 

LEVI SEELEY, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF EDUCATION, IN THE 
NEW JERSEY STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 



HINDS & NOBLE, Publishers 
Cooper Institute, New York City 



LBlMf 



TME UVRARY OF 
OOWGRESS, 

Two Copies Receive© 

DEC. 20 1901 

Co?»v«IOMT ENTHV 

Class * xxo. no. 

COPT A 



Copyright, 1901, 
By HINDS & NOBLE. 



PREFACE. 



The foundations of teaching are not to be sought, abso- 
lutely complete, in any school curriculum, or in any series 
of directions to school-teachers. There are many impor- 
tant matters both in teaching and in schooling which lie 
outside the printed schedules for teachers and the text- 
books for students. Not only do they lie outside, but they 
lie deeper — they are matters fundamental ; and yet they 
hardly can be stated in official directions, much less classi- 
fied. Still, the neglect of them as if they were side issues 
is quite largely responsible for many of the weaknesses in 
our educational product. The purpose of this book is 
mainly to impress upon both the teacher and the parent 
the grave importance of certain of these matters as founda- 
tions of teaching. 

No one will claim that we have yet attained perfection, 
either in method or result. We spend vast sums of money, 
we claim the devotion of a great army of men and women 
in the schoolroom, great minds are bestowing their very 
best thought — and no one would withhold a particle of 
this treasure, this consecration, this energy — yet we are 
confronted with evils which education has not eliminated, 
and faults in our national character which seem rather to 
grow than abate. 

It were presumptuous of me to propose a panacea for all 
our educational ills. But may I not hope to contribute 



IV PREFACE. 

some suggestions, born of long experience and wide obser- 
vation, rather outside the beaten track — thoughts which 
may help in the correction of these ills, and possibly even 
strengthen the weak places ? Far be it from me to cherish 
a pessimistic view of our condition. On the contrary, we 
have great reason to rejoice and to take courage. Yet we 
shall do well honestly to face the situation, and eschewing 
self-complacency, seek to improve. My purpose is not to 
point out errors so much as to indicate positive factors 
which should be incorporated into our training and com- 
prise a more intimate part of our practice, in directing 
childhood, both at school and in the home. Little attempt 
has been made to preserve a continuity between the chap- 
ters of this book, each being practically independent of the 
others. 

My earnest desire is to set young teachers to thinking 
upon the matters here set forth, hoping thereby to lead 
them into a completer conception of what education really 
implies. Older teachers again, and even the parent, may 
find suggestive material here which will prove helpful in 
the all-important duty of the proper education of the child. 
It seems to me that parents are returning once more to the 
idea which prevailed before the days of schools and school- 
teachers, namely, that the child is a gift of God to the 
home, and that the first and most sacred duty of parents is 
rightly to educate their children. Whatever be the condi- 
tions, no person and no scheme of education can withdraw 
that responsibility wholly from the parents, nor deprive 
them utterly of that privilege. It is my sincere hope that 
in these pages the parent, especially, will find help in the 
discharge of this blessed privilege, this God-given duty. 

Because many of the questions treated underlie the for- 



PREFACE. V 

mation of character, they are truly fundamental. Hence 
the appropriateness of the title " The Foundations of Edu- 
cation." Convinced that teachers should give closer atten- 
tion to these questions than is their wont, I have tried to 
be entirely practical in theme, logical in treatment, and 
lucid in illustration, avoiding such technical terms as might 
obscure my meaning. Language is the vehicle of thought ; 
and if undue concentration be required because of the lan- 
guage used, little strength will remain for the main thing, 
which is the thought. 

Many agencies enter into the education of the child. I 
have alluded to two, the teacher and the parent ; and of all 
the agencies these two are the most important. If the 
teacher and the parent should be led to work together, 
each aiding and supplementing the other, and if both should 
acquire a broader conception of the true meaning of educa- 
tion, through the perusal of this work, its mission and the 
devoted wish of the author will be fulfilled. 

For many valuable criticisms and suggestions in the 
preparation of this book, I wish to extend my hearty thanks 
to Dr. E. F. Carr, of the Trenton Normal School. 

LEVI SEELEY. 
State Normal School, 
Trenton, N. J. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Teacher 

i. The old-time teacher, 2. Essentials for the teacher. 
3. Self-sacrificing spirit. 4. Training of the teacher. 5. Re- 
wards : pecuniary, good men trained, higher ideals, self -improve- 
ment. 6. The Great Teacher. 



CHAPTER II. 

Motives for Becoming a Teacher 

1. Country boys' purposes. 2. Marriage of teachers. 3. Teach- 
ing a temporary calling. 4. Political advancement. 5. Right 
motives . a desire for self -improvement, a patriotic motive, altru- 
istic motive. 

CHAPTER III. 

Cautions to Young Teachers 

1. Make few rules. 2. Do not talk too much. 3. Avoid the 
use of ridicule or sarcasm. 4. Do not see every piece of innocent 
mischief. 5. Do not threaten or scold. 6. Criticism and praise. 
7. The dull and uninteresting. 8. Rendering and withholding 
assistance. 

CHAPTER IV. 



PAGE 



The Spirit of the Schoolroom 

1. A type of school. 2. Freedom. 3. Unselfishness. 4. Self- 
control. 5. Interest. 6. Love. 



J' 



VU1 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

The Daily Program 40 

1. Child study. 2. Investigations. 3. Memory test. 4. Ac- 
curacy test. 5. Attention test. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Basis of Promotion 49 

1. Rapid promotion. 2„ Growth versus promotion. 3. Danger 
of too rapid promotion. 4. Progress already made. 5. Fre- 
quency of promotions. 6, Class teacher the judge of whom to 
promote. 7. Ripeness and ability. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Politeness 57 

1. Lack of politeness handicaps. 2. The virtue of civilization. 
3. Form versus spirit of politeness. 4. American children. 
5. Forms of politeness. 6. Spirit of politeness. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Good Order in the School . 63 

1. German idea of discipline. 2. Importance of good order. 
3. Absolute stillness. 4. Position of the body. 5. Seeing mis- 
chief. 6. What good order is. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Philosophy of School Discipline 75 

1. Purpose of discipline. 2. State versus school discipline. 

3. Methods of securing discipline. 4. Punishment, principles 
governing. 5. Kinds of punishment: reproof, isolation, with- 
drawal of privileges, withholding of confidence, consult the 
parents, suspension, expulsion, corporal punishment. 

CHAPTER X. 

Habit as an End of Schoolwork 85 

1. What is habit ? 2. Physical habits. 3. Intellectual habits. 

4. Love for good literature. 5. Moral habits. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XL 

PAGE 

Reminiscences of my First School 92 

1. First certificate to teach. 2. My first school. 3. The first 
day. 4. Boarding around. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Professional Spirit Among Teachers 99 

1. Teaching a profession. 2. Lack of professional spirit 
among teachers. 3. Support educational literature. 4. Do not 
undermine fellow-teachers. 4. Sustain teachers' organizations. 
6. Results to be attained. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

School Incentives 106 

1. Marking. 2. Class rank. 3. Prizes. 4. Rewards of merit. 

5. The highest incentive. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Practical Correlation for Practical Teachers 114 

1. The Committee of Fifteen, (a) logical order of topics and 
branches, (b) symmetrical whole of studies in the world of human . 

learning, (c) psychological symmetry — the whole mind, (d) cor- *— 
relation of pupil's course of study with the world in which he 
lives — his spiritual and natural environment. 2. Practical cor- 
relation. 3. Correlation in history. 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Summer Trip with a German School 121 

1. The Thuringian forest. 2. The trip. 3. The pedagogical 
conference. 4. The Stoy monument. 5. The Luther monument. 

6. Utilizing the experiences. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

German Common Schools 130 

1. Influence of German education upon other nations. 2. The 
German common school. 3. The school building. 4. Lessons 
from German schools. 5. Compulsory attendance. 6. Better 
trained teachers. 7. Permanency in office. 8. Other lessons. 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

The Study of the History of Education 142 

1. A recent study. 2. History of education comes first. 

3. History of education a development. 4. Plan of study, (a) 
environment, (b) the home, (c) the schools, (d) educational sys- 
tems, (e) methods of instruction, (f) inspiration from great teachers. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Recitation 154 

1. Origin of the term. 2. Herbartian theory. 3. Preparation. 

4. Presentation. 5. Association. 6. Recapitulation. 7. Appli- 
cation. 

CHAPTER XIX 

The Swing of the Pendulum in Education .... . . 162 

1. Extremes in politics. 2. In religion. 3. Temperance. 
4. Spelling. 5. Object lessons. 6. Use of text-books. 7. Con- 
servative action. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Who are Responsible for the Education of the Child? . 172 
1. A great problem. 2. The home. 3. The school. 4. So- 
ciety. 5. The state. 6. The church. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Self-control and Self-employment 182 

I. Education is emancipation. 2. Self-control. 3. How to 
teach self-control. 4. Self -employment. 5. The early versus 
the modern school. 6. Success in life. 7. Moral aspect. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

The Teaching of Patriotism 193 

1. Boastfulness. 2. Partisanship. 3. Patriotism in time of 
danger. 4. Patriotism in time of peace. 5. The duty of the 
school. 6. Teach the theory of our government. 7. Patriotic 
songs and sentiments. 8. A national holiday in Germany. 
9. Patriotism creates high ideals. 10. Patriotism and the public 
schools. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

PAGE 

Inspiration from the Lives of Great Educators .... 202 
1. Encouragement for teachers. 2. Erasmus of Rotterdam. 
3. His pedagogy. 4. Luther as an educator. 5. Fenelon. 
6. His method. 7. Comenius. 8. Francke. 9. The orphan 
asylum. 10. Pestalozzi. 11. His writings and work. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Moral Instruction ... 217 

1. Moral teachers. 2. Schoolroom movements. 3. Proper 
employment. 4. Morals at recess. 5. Commingling of the 
sexes. 6. Use of daily incidents. 7. Moral influence of the sur- 
roundings. 8. Moral lessons from literature. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Religious Education r 232 

1 Religious education necessary. 2. Religion in the German 
schools. 3. Upright men. 4. Religious education of American 
youth. 5. Means of religious instruction. 6. The Sunday school ; 
(a) its thirty-minute lessons, (b) untrained teachers, (c) irregularity 
of attendance, (d) lack of study, (e) reaches but few. 7. A solu- 
tion of the problem. 8. Bible should be allowed in the school. 
9. Difficulties to be met. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TEACHER. 

There never was a time when the teacher commanded 
so much respect as now, the beginning of the twentieth 
century. There have been teachers in every age who 
have been held in high esteem. We know that Alexander 
the Great loved and revered his teacher, Aristotle, as 
much as his own father, declaring " That he was indebted 
to the one for living, and to the other for living well." 
Nero, also, loved and trusted his old teacher, Seneca, for 
many years, even though he eventually put him to death. 
Fdnelon, by his remarkable power as a teacher, was able to 
transform his royal pupil, the Duke of Burgundy, from a 
passionate, willful and cruel boy, into an obedient, docile, 
and affectionate one. These cases might be multiplied, 
and yet, when one considers the long period that is cov- 
ered by the history of education, the names of great teach- 
ers who have won recognition are but few comparatively. 

The Old-Time Teacher. — But teachers have not always 
been worthy of respect. Luther declares concerning the 
teachers of his time, " Such teachers and masters we have 
been obliged to have everywhere, who have known nothing 



1 THE TEACHER. 

themselves, and have been able to teach nothing good or 
useful." He urges, however, that due respect should be 
shown to the office of teacher, and by example and pre- 
cept every teacher should be worthy of respect. Even 
in Prussia, previous to the general school regulation of 
Frederick the Great, issued in 1763, the scepter of the 
schoolmaster was still largely in the hands of invalid 
soldiers, impoverished professionals, bankrupt merchants, 
crippled young men unfit for military service, worthless 
students, and other persons who turned to this calling as 
their last expedient. If they could read, write, and cipher, 
and were orthodox in faith, no one asked for wider culture. 
Teaching was a make-shift calling upon which almost any 
one who chose could enter. But the writings of Rousseau 
gave a new impulse to education and created a demand for 
better instructors. Accordingly, normal schools were es- 
tablished throughout the Fatherland and in parts of 
France, teaching became a respected profession, and 
teachers gradually arose to the enviable position that 
they now occupy in Germany and in other parts of the 
world. 

Our own country was slow to accept the lesson thus 
taught, and there are many now living who can remember 
when it was thought that "most any one can teach 
school." Indeed, I wish I might be sure that this opinion 
were wholly eradicated even at this day. If it were, 
thoroughly trained teachers, normal and college graduates, 
and those who have gained proficiency by long experi- 
ence and study would not have to compete for positions 
with those without professional fitness. That a mighty 
forward stride towards gaining respect for the calling of 
teachers has been made in our country is beyond question. 



SELF-SACRIFICING SPIRIT. 3 

Essentials for the Teacher Let us consider some of 

the essentials which are needed to make the successful 
teacher. First of all he must be a person who is willing 
to devote himself to a noble work, who is ready to sacrifice 
self who is not afraid of hard work, and who possesses a 
longing to be helpful to his fellowmen. With a lower 
ideal than this, no one should enter this field. I would 
have the teacher feel that his is the noblest calling 
on God's footstool, and that however others may feel, to 
him there is no field of human activity so noble, no voca- 
tion that offers so wide a scope for useful endeavor, and 
no life-work so elevating and ennobling, both to himself and 
to those whom he may have the opportunity to instruct. I 
do not say that, in the abstract, teaching is the noblest of 
all professions, but I do say that to each individual teacher 
it should be the noblest of all professions, and it requires 
as deep and holy a consecration to one who would enter 
fully into the spirit of the work as does the most sacred of 
callings. When Pestalozzi was asked what office he wanted 
under the government of Switzerland, he replied, " I want 
to be a schoolmaster." So I would have every individual 
who enters the ranks of teachers feel that, rather than be 
a statesman, rather than be a minister of the gospel, rather 
than be a merchant prince, " I want to be a schoolmaster." 

Self-Sacrificing Spirit. — But this requires sacrifice of 
self and a willingness to do hard work. I advise the 
young man or woman who is seeking a life of ease, to 
choose some other occupation than teaching. A boy was 
once asked by his teacher to write a composition expressing 
in the fewest possible words the vocation he would like to 
follow in life and the reason for his choice. He wrote the 



4 THE TEACHER. 

following sentence, showing that he was something of a 
philosopher: "I would like to be an undertaker, because 
there is little work and lots of money in it." No one must 
choose teaching for either of these reasons, for he will 
be sadly mistaken in both. A selfish, lazy school-teacher 
is about the worst conceivable specimen of humanity. The 
young teacher now in the field has discovered that success is 
to be attained only by unceasing toil. If any one who reads 
these lines is unwilling to devote his whole strength, his 
whole capacity, his whole time, to his school, I advise 
him to withdraw from the work at the earliest possible 
moment. There are plenty of easier occupations, but 
there are none so rich in noble and far-reaching reward. 
The real teacher lives with his school, not merely from 
nine to four, not merely in the schoolroom, but all the 
time, everywhere. The noble Pestalozzi once more is an 
example. He says of his pupils, " I was among them from 
morning till evening. Everything tending to benefit body 
and soul I administered with my own hand. Every assist- 
ance, every lesson received, came from me. My hand was 
joined to theirs, my smile accompanied theirs. They seemed 
out of the world and away from Stanz ; they were with me 
and I with them. We shared food and drink. I slept in 
their midst. I was the last to go to bed and the first to 
rise. I prayed with them, and taught them in bed till they 
fell asleep." Of course teachers cannot literally do all 
that Pestalozzi did, but I want them to have his self- 
sacrificing spirit. I heard a principal say concerning one of 
his teachers, " Miss N. eats and sleeps with her pupils, she 
carries them on her heart, she has them always with her." 
Yes, it is a life of toil to teach school, not only in the actual 
work of educating the children, but also in the study neces- 



TRAINING OF THE TEACHER. £ 

sary to keep apace with the profession and to make proper 
growth. Of course the teacher must not neglect the pres- 
ervation of his own health, nor must he let his schoolroom 
cares become a burden. It is well to remember that to 
draw upon one's physical capital is just as perilous to 
continued success as to draw upon financial capital is peril- 
ous to business success. There must always be a reserved 
fund of strength to rely upon, and if the position now occu- 
pied exhausts and makes one nervous, it is better to give 
it up and seek one that can be carried without worry and 
without depletion of strength. 

Again, there must be the God-inspiring longing to be a 
blessing to mankind. The most impressible, the most 
plastic, the most needy, the most helpless, the loveliest of 
all God's creations — the little child — is placed in the 
hands of the teacher to mold for life and for eternity. 
There is no object more worthy of love or that offers such 
boundless returns for labor bestowed. The possibilities 
" that lie buttoned up under the ragged jacket," as Garfield 
puts it, invite the devotion of the most consecrated, the 
enthusiasm of the most holy. To one who wants to do 
good, to help men, to be a blessing to mankind, the voca- 
tion of teacher offers the best of all fields. 

Training of the Teacher. — In the next place, the teacher 
mtist be trained both academically and professionally. If 
we mean by education "the influence which one individual 
exerts upon another in order to develop the latter in some 
conscious and methodical way, either generally or with 
reference to some special aim," as Rosenkranz says, " the 
teacher must be relatively finished in his own education, 
and the pupil must possess complete confidence in him." 



6 THE TEACHER. 

It is not enough for the teacher to be "born " any more 
than for the preacher, or the lawyer, or the doctor to be 
"born." Added to the natural fitness, which may or may 
not be discovered before the preparation begins, or which 
may be discovered only in the schoolroom, there must be 
the preparation. I suppose not one in a hundred of the 
vast army of young men and women in our institutions for 
the training of teachers would dare assert that he or she is 
"born" for the work of teaching. And yet not one of 
them is disturbed by that fact. All of them enter upon 
the work of preparation with the reasonable assurance that 
by diligence, careful study, earnest devotion, and mastery of 
the professional training offered, there is abundant reason 
to expect success. If the candidate for teaching has the 
longing to be useful of which I have spoken, is naturally 
drawn to children and has a love for them, and is free from 
such physical impediments as would prevent success, I 
think he need not worry over the question whether or not 
he is " born " for teaching. 

A German educator has said that "education is the 
cancellation of the inequality between the teacher and the 
person taught." If this be so, where that difference is 
small, the person to be taught has but little to expect, for 
there is not much inequality to cancel. If our district 
school trustee could see this point, he would not select his 
neighbor's daughter just out of the grammar school to 
teach his school, on the ground that " she knows enough 
to teach the little children who make up the school." 
The time has gone by when our schools can or need be 
officered by persons of small academic or professional 
fitness. The teacher must have a broad education, but he 
must also have professional training. Normal schools are 



REWARDS OF THE TEACHER. J 

founded in recognition of that principle, and while in their 
earlier history they were obliged to devote themselves 
almost entirely to the academic side of training, in recent 
years the professional side has come to the front. Col- 
leges, too, which formerly expected their culture work 
sufficiently to prepare their graduates for teaching, have 
established pedagogical chairs, organized seminaries, and 
are seeking to give a professional fitness to those who 
intend to teach. The need of a professional as well as an 
academic training is now everywhere acknowledged, and 
never in the history of our country has there been so wide- 
spread an interest in the professional preparation of 
teachers as at the present time. This interest will con- 
tinue to increase in force for all time to come. 

Rewards of the Teacher. — In the third place I wish to 
say that the office of the teacher offers the 'most ample and 
far-reaching rewards. Surely this is not true from a 
pecuniary standpoint. According to the United States 
Commissioner's report of 1898-99, the average monthly 
salary of men teachers for the whole country was $45.25 
and of women $38.14. The pay of teachers is not so 
good in this country even as in Prussia, where the expense 
of living is far less and where the teacher has the advan- 
tage of pensions, permanency of position, etc. In the com- 
missioner's report of 1896-97 we find the statement that 
"the average annual salary for men in the United States, 
counting seven months to the school year, is $331.50, 
and for women $281.68. The average annual salary for 
teachers in the Prussian elementary schools was estimated 
at $340, in 1887, including free residence." There is 
little in this to invite a young person to devote himself to 



8 THE TEACHER. 

teaching if his main purpose is pecuniary advantage, though 
it is encouraging to note that there is an upward tendency 
in salaries. It is well known that almost any calling 
"pays better" than teaching, when one takes into account 
the preparation required, the uncertainties of tenure of 
office, and the amount of vitality and strength required. 

But there are other compensations which more than 
overbalance the unfavorable pecuniary situation, and make 
the rewards of the teacher fully commensurate with the 
labor and sacrifice invested. The first of these is imme- 
diate ; it shows itself in the schoolroom by the new intel- 
lectual and moral life awakened in the child, by the growth 
in knowledge and power, by the self-mastery gained, the 
unfolding of life to the immortal soul committed to our 
care. If the farmer finds joy in the bursting bud, in the 
growing plant, in the ripening harvest, a thousand times 
as great must be the joy of him who plants, and waters, 
and watches, and trains for eternity. 

Good Men Trained. — The second of these higher re- 
wards of the teacher is just as real, though he has to wait 
for it. It is the fruitage of his labor as shown in the suc- 
cessful lives of his pupils. One of the most successful 
business men of this city remarked once to me, " I owe 
my success in life to Prof. E," naming a well-known old 
teacher who conducted a private school for many years 
and who is now enjoying a ripe old age. " I got thinking 
about it not long ago, and I just went to see him and told 
him what he had been to me. The old gentleman was 
completely overcome ; and as the tears ran down his cheeks 
he said, 'You don't know what joy that brings me.'' 
That illustrates what I mean by the fruitage. It is an 



SELF-IMPROVEMENT. 9 

interest that compounds with delightful rapidity as the 
years roll by ; and well may the old teacher look upon the 
lives of successful business men, eminent scholars and 
statesmen, noted scientific and professional men, esteemed 
citizens and parents, whom it has been his privilege to 
teach, and exclaim, "These are my children ! " 

Higher Ideals. — A third reward is the elevation of the 
teacher's own ideals through the necessity of living a right 
life before the children. No conscientious teacher can 
ever forget that his life will be reproduced in his pupils. 
Therefore Prof. Roark well says, "As a rule, however, 
the teacher's character, whether good or bad, creeps into 
the ideals of his pupils in direct proportion to the pedago- 
gical soundness of his teaching. The best thing a teacher 
can do for his pupils is to give them himself freely." 
This being true, if the teacher lacks in the highest ideals, 
if there is something wanting in moral character, evil and 
only evil can result to children with whom he comes in 
contact. In this case are the words of the Great Teacher, 
" Unto every one that hath shall be given," more than 
verified ; for the responsibility of living a correct life 
before children, their innocence and truthfulness, and their 
rapid growth in such direction as may be given to them, 
can only serve to stimulate nobler ideals and higher life in 
the teacher. This is one of the blessed compensations 
of the teacher's calling. While leading others to nobler 
life, the teacher himself is led to a nobler life. 

Self -Improvement. — There is still another fact that I 
think may be classed as a reward, and that is the oppor- 
tunity for, and inspiration to, self-improvement. While 



IO THE TEACHER. 

the truth is being opened to the child, still greater truths 
unfold to the man who teaches the child. Some occupa- 
tions, while in themselves not dishonorable, lack the power 
to stimulate higher ideals. Thus the butcher, whose busi- 
ness it is to slay animals for the consumption of man ; the 
operator in the mill, who merely watches the machine day 
after day without variation; the mechanic, who makes a 
single piece of a machine year in and year out, do not find 
in their occupation anything to lift their thoughts upward, 
and make better men of them. How different is the 
occupation of the teacher ! The ever-varying life of the 
schoolroom, the great difference in the character of 
the pupils, the response of intellect to intellect, the beams 
of joy in the lives of the children as they catch some new, 
wonderful truth, the delight in meeting truth for its own 
sake, — these, and a thousand other things, make the pro- 
fession of teaching the noblest of all professions. For he 
who is helping others into a larger life is himself ever 
stimulated to a larger life. Is not this a most noble 
reward ? 

The Great Teacher. — Finally, the most perfect charac- 
ter that ever trod the earth was a teacher. I love to 
think of Him in this character, — that of the Great 
Teacher ; and this ennobles the calling, and leads one 
never to be ashamed of it. In His life, and method, and 
example, and consecration, I find help and encouragement. 
It is a great thing to be a school-teacher ! 



CHAPTER II. 

MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

When school opens in September each year, there are 
from eighty to a hundred thousand new teachers who 
come up to fill the places of those who have died, married, 
withdrawn to enter some other work, or who are tired of 
teaching, as well as to supply the increased demand for 
recruits caused by the ever-growing army of school-children. 
Of this vast number of new teachers about ten per cent 
will be graduates of normal schools ; perhaps another ten 
per cent will have had some pedagogical training, — not 
enough to give them a professional standing, — and the 
balance of eighty per cent will be without any professional, 
pedagogical training whatever. I think this is the most 
important, the most stupendous, problem that confronts 
American education to-day. But it is not my purpose here 
to discuss this problem except in an indirect way. 

I would like to have the ear of this great body of young 
men and women, who expect soon to begin teaching, and 
ask them to contemplate with me the question, What are 
your motives ? Or if you are to enter a normal school, 
now is the time to consider the question of motives before 
you have spent two or three years and some hundreds of 
dollars in preparation for teaching. I am not addressing 
those who are completing a normal course, or those who 
have already engaged in teaching, though many of them 



1-2 MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

might well seriously ask themselves this question, What 
are my motives? This large army are now boys and 
girls in the school ; soon they will be men and women in 
charge of a school ; now they are pupils, then they will 
be teachers ; now they are subjects of discipline, then it 
will be "theirs to command;" now they are led and 
directed, then they must lead ; now they are without 
responsibility and without care, then a great weight of 
responsibility will rest upon them, that of leading alert 
minds and immortal souls aright. I know of no epoch in 
life in any field of endeavor that involves so much as the 
change above indicated. That is why I ask the question 
in great seriousness, What are your motives ? 

Country Boys' Purposes No doubt many a young 

man enters teaching with no higher motive than that of 
securing a respectable livelihood. To boys brought up 
on a farm where wages are from twelve to twenty dollars 
a month, and where fourteen or sixteen hours are 
demanded for a day's labor, six or seven hundred dollars 
a year, with only five days' work in the week, and six 
hours a day, to say nothing of the vacations, seems like 
opulence and ease. They are apt to measure the value 
of money by the standards and demands of country life to 
which they are accustomed, not realizing the thousand and 
one expenses incumbent upon town life, which are un- 
known to the simple life of the farm. Nor do they realize 
that the six hours in the school represent but a small part 
of the time that the devoted, progressive, earnest teacher 
must give to his profession. They see only the two ex- 
tremes, — hard work, long hours, small pay, narrow life, 
on the one hand, and ease, large salary, respectability, 



COUNTRY BOYS' PURPOSES. 



l 3 



honor, and the broad world, on the other. If they would 
take the trouble to examine statistics they would find that 
the farmer has more ease, is more independent, and in the 
end is more likely to get rich than the school-teacher. It 
is extremely rare that teaching proves to be a fortune- 
making calling. I do not mention this to discourage boys 
from the farm from devoting themselves to teaching. 
Indeed, I would like to encourage farm boys to enter 
teaching, and would like to attract to it the best talent of 
the land. Many of the great leaders in education in our 
country to-day, some of them commanding good salaries, 
were brought up on the farm. And these men, while first 
attracted to teaching by the apparent chance to improve 
their condition, as above stated, have found the work con- 
genial and inspiring, and have measured up to its require- 
ments in the noblest manner. Their sturdy frames, their 
good habits, their self-reliance, their industry, their training 
in carrying responsibilities, have been a magnificent capital 
upon which they draw all of their lives, and which has 
been a large element in their success. But I am studying 
motives, and it is not the motive that first prompted them 
to choose teaching that has won success for them. 

So, too, very often a girl, having obtained an education 
somewhat beyond other girls in her neighborhood, — com- 
pleted her education, perhaps, she thinks, — casts about 
for something to do. It is very seldom that she will go 
out to service. While we have no decided class rank in 
this country as yet, still, I think there is a growing ten- 
dency among those who have been through the high 
schools to look upon manual labor as degrading to them. 
It ought not to be so, but it is a fact. The right educa- 
tion will prepare for life whatever may be its duties, and 



14 MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

it will ennoble and sanctify labor of all kinds, so that the 
injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might " will be carried out in spirit and letter. But 
I am writing of actual conditions, and it is a fact that few 
educated girls are willing to go into the kitchen or laundry 
as a means of livelihood. Generally speaking, the educated 
girl does not need to ; but I plead for respect for these 
vocations, and would not have a girl feel that her educa- 
tion can make her superior to them. In earlier times 
teaching was about the only vocation open to the educated 
girl. Now bookkeeping, typewriting, clerking, nursing, 
medicine, and many other fields invite her, so that it 
seems to me a choicer class of young women enter the 
profession of teaching than formerly, because of the many 
other outlets for woman's activity, thus necessitating a 
more deliberate choice on the part of those who select 
teaching. 

Marriage of Teachers. — In Germany, most young women 
who become teachers are daughters of government officials, 
pastors, army officers, and other persons who do not pos- 
sess the marriage dowry expected by a bridegroom of their 
own rank. As they cannot marry beneath their rank, there 
is therefore but little chance of their ever marrying. Hence 
they enter teaching as a life-work, and are rarely ever dis- 
turbed therein by offers of marriage. Of course there are 
with us many women who have spent their lives in the 
schoolroom ; but I think that there are few girls that feel, 
"Who enters here closes the door of hope" so far as 
marriage is concerned. Indeed, some enter teaching be- 
cause it brings them to good society and thereby enhances 
their chances of marriage. Now, it must not be thought 



TEACHING A TEMPORARY CALLING. 1 5 

that I condemn this natural, this divine, impulse of woman- 
hood ; indeed, I quite sympathize with a superintendent 
that I know who believes that many of the qualities needed 
for wifehood and motherhood are just the ones needed in 
the woman teacher, and therefore he welcomes teachers 
who may be sought for as wives. But I am only trying to 
present the picture as it is. I insist that but few girls in 
this country enter teaching fully decided never to marry. 
I remember a bright young lady student who began a reci- 
tation one day with these words : " Having fully devoted 
myself to teaching for life," etc., etc. She was doubtless 
entirely honest in the statement and the intent, but the 
fact of history is that within one year she was engaged to 
be married, a contract which she carried out as soon as 
she had kept a previous contract with the state of New 
Jersey to teach two years in the state as compensation for 
her normal course. I do not blame her in the least, nor 
do I blame any lady teacher that may do likewise. After 
all, the noblest place for woman is the home with its sacred 
duties of wifehood and motherhood, and I sincerely hope 
that no other sphere of life will ever in the slightest degree 
supplant this divine institution of marriage as the natural 
condition of woman. 

Teaching a Temporary Calling. — My point is that most 
girls enter teaching as a temporary expedient to tide over 
the few years before marriage, to secure funds for the 
trousseau, to support themselves honorably for a time, to 
await for something else to "turn up," and not because 
they have a proper conception of the work of teaching, or 
because they seriously expect to give their lives to it. As 
in the case of boys, such conception often comes with the 



1 6 MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

experience of the schoolroom. Doubtless there are many 
women in our schools who would not change their lot for 
any other place in life. But they are women who have 
grown into a proper motive, who love the work and will 
continue in it, rather than those who started out with the 
right motive. There is no doubt that more and more 
women are choosing teaching as a life-work ; but as long as 
nearly one-fifth of our teachers leave the work every year, 
and the most of these are women, we cannot say that the 
principle has as yet a very firm hold in our country. 

And right here is a reason why those who plead for 
equal wages for women and men are doomed to disappoint- 
ment. The average term of service of men is longer, a 
larger proportion of them make teaching from the start 
their life-work, and hence they are entitled to more pay. 
No invidious comparison between men and women is here 
made, there is no depreciating the work of women in the 
schoolroom, nor lack of welcome to them in that work, 
but a mere statement of a general principle. There are 
other reasons why this difference will continue to exist 
which it is not the province of this chapter to discuss. 

Political Advancement. — Another motive that might be 
mentioned is the prospect of political advancement. I 
knew a gentleman to be chosen state superintendent of 
public instruction on the ground that he had been defeated 
at the polls and " ought to be taken care of." That he 
made a splendid school officer is no fault of the system, 
nor is it because he had the right motive in seeking to 
enter educational work. It used to be a common practice 
in some states to elect a man for school commissioner or 
county superintendent as a stepping-stone to higher politi- 



A DESIRE FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT. \J 

cal preferment, without the slightest regard for his fitness 
for school supervision. There has been a decided change 
for the better in this respect during the last few years. 

But what are the right motives that should govern the 
choice of teaching as a calling? I may mention a few. 

i, A Desire for Self -Improvement This is a perfectly 

proper motive for entering the field of teaching. 

It becomes improper only when entered upon as a mere 
means of securing something believed to be better. The 
life of the teacher offers unsurpassed means for self-im- 
provement. I have touched upon this in the preceding 
chapter, but it is so important that the thought may well 
be further treated. In stimulating the intellectual growth 
of pupils there is a marvelous intellectual growth in the 
teacher. Indeed, the teacher who does not grow with 
his pupils, and grow deeper and broader even than they, 
has not chosen the right field of labor. Contact with in- 
tellectual life impels zeal for personal acquirement, and love 
of one's own mental growth. Every great educator in 
history began teaching with comparatively small equipment 
in knowledge, but he improved himself while he improved 
his pupils. He grew into a far larger horizon as he 
broadened the horizon of those he taught. 

Nor is this self-improvement confined to the intellectual 
side, it applies equally well to the moral attributes. In seek- 
ing to make his pupils better, in trying to give them good 
habits, in inspiring them with a love of righteousness, in 
preparing them for a good living, the teacher himself in 
a deep sense receives into his own life all that he would 
give to the lives of others. In the largest degree " giving 
doth not impoverish " but enricheth in this moral work of 



1 8 MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

the teacher. I think this explains why the lapses from 
moral life are less frequent in the teacher's profession than 
in any other. Therefore if any young man wishes to 
secure the largest opportunity for self -improvement, teach- 
ing offers him an unsurpassed field. 

2. A Patriotic Motive In the late Spanish war, a 

great many young men, filled with love of country, were 
anxious to go to the front. Even more marked was the 
case in 1863, when Lee invaded Pennsylvania. In a 
wonderful burst of patriotism thousands of young men 
rushed to arms in defense of country and fireside. I 
think this spirit of patriotism is found in every breast, and 
in no field could it find better and wiser expression than in 
preparing the rising generation for the duties of citizen- 
ship. And so, I would have young people become teachers 
because they love our land, because they appreciate that 
nowhere is proper training for citizenship so essential as in 
a republic, and because here is a vital work to be done. 
Our young people need to be taught that patriotism means 
more than the burning of fire-crackers and making much 
noise on the fourth of July, more than marching in a 
parade and shouting applause at patriotic speeches, more 
than worship of the stars and stripes, though all of these 
may be commendable ; it means more even than readi- 
ness to spring forward at the call to arms in the mo- 
ment of the country's peril. They must learn that 
patriotism makes its most important demands in times of 
peace, when the nation is not aroused by appeals to national 
honor, and when the people are not disturbed by the 
excitement of contest. He is the truest patriot who obeys 
the laws of his country ; who discharges his duties both 



A DESIRE TO BE OF USE TO ONE'S FELLOWMEN. 1 9 

public and private unfailingly and courageously ; who 
respects the rights of others, even though they differ in 
opinion from him ; who is industrious and economical ; who 
is determined to leave his " country not less, but greater 
and more powerful than she was when committed to him ; " 
who favors and furthers all progress — moral, intellectual, 
material ; who is ready to make sacrifices for the public 
good without being stirred by ardent appeals or stimu- 
lated by public applause. Such a patriot will never fail 
his country in her hour of danger, which, sometimes, as 
we have seen, is while she is at peace. We do not need 
any more of the noisy kind of patriotism, but we do need 
the quiet patriotism of every-day life. 

3. A Desire to be of Use to One's Fellowmen There 

are very few young people who do not at some period, 
perhaps during adolescence, have great desires to be of 
use to mankind. Environment has a great deal to do with 
this ; and doubtless children brought up in good homes, 
surrounded by Christian influences, and brought in contact 
with the moral lives and example of parents, will possess 
this spirit in a larger degree than others less favorably 
situated. But I think that all children naturally possess 
this desire, and it should be stimulated and encouraged. 
It is the essence of unselfishness. No one should enter 
teaching without this motive. Teaching offers opportuni- 
ties for the satisfaction of this innate desire in a rare sense. 
It furnishes abundant means of leading young people into a 
larger life than many of their homes will ever encourage, 
of preparing for good citizenship, of fitting for a sphere of 
usefulness, and of planting the seeds of faith in eternal 
life. This desire is much the same as that which leads a 



20 MOTIVES FOR BECOMING A TEACHER. 

man to consecrate himself to the ministry of God's Word ; 
indeed, must not the teacher have fully as high a motive as 
the Christian minister ? If he fulfills his mission, are not 
the results of his work as far reaching and important ? 
No field of activity offers greater opportunities for good 
than that of teaching. With this altruistic spirit should 
every one consecrate himself to the work. 

With such lofty motives as these would I summon the 
young men and women who are now considering the life 
of a teacher with a view of commencing a preparation 
therefor in college or normal school, or who feel them- 
selves ready to begin that work. If they have meaner or 
less worthy motives I beg them to choose some other life- 
work and not endanger the welfare of future generations 
in our land. " As the teacher is, so is the school," and as 
the school is, so are the future citizens of the republic. 



CHAPTER III. 

CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS. 

As we have seen, we have a vast army of new teachers 
every year, many of whom have had but little preparation 
for the work of the schoolroom. The educational quali- 
fications are higher now than ever before, and the same is 
also true of the professional qualifications. This is one of 
the most encouraging signs of the times. But there are 
still eighty or ninety per cent of our teaching force who 
must be classed as untrained. It is to them especially 
that this chapter is addressed in the hope of saving them 
from errors that I have made, and that most young 
teachers are likely to make. Perhaps, too, older teachers 
may be lead to self-examination through reading these lines 
as to whether they have fallen into the habits which these 
cautions seek to prevent. Self-examination is always good 
for the human soul, and it is especially good and necessary 
for the school-teacher. The first caution that I give, 
because it is the one that confronts the teacher upon 
opening school, is, — 

i. Make Few Rules Some say, "Make no rules." 

I agree with this so far as the opening-day of school is 
concerned ; but I am trying to lay down principles that 
will hold for the whole term or year. There are always 
some rules, understood if not formulated, which are in 

21 



11 CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS. 

force in every school. Thus the opening of school at nine 
o'clock, regularity of recitations, arrangement into classes, 
uniformity of text -books, are regulations, which, however, 
do not need formulation, but are essential. I think 
also that every teacher finds that certain rules must be 
made. Some one has told us of a teacher who presented 
his pupils upon opening school with a set of rules supposed 
to cover every possible evil. At the first recess he found 
some boys on top of the school-house playing cards, using 
the chimney as a table. Now, his rules did not cover that 
offense and therefore the boys had to be acquitted. This 
illustrates the weakness of the " rule for everything " plan. 
Had there been no rules, it is not probable that the boys 
would have concocted mischief which was not covered by 
rule. There is a very important moral aspect of the case. 
With many rules the Child measures his moral account- 
ability by his conformity to these rules. It is not whether 
an act is right or wrong that moves him, but whether 
or not "it's against the rule." I have seen a very low 
standard of morals in schools where many rules were 
rigidly enforced and so-called "good discipline" secured, 
but where the children were not trained to do right 
because it is right and avoid wrong because it is wrong. 
It is a very unfortunate situation if the children are 
made blindly to submit to rules as the sole arbiter of 
conscience. 

This leads me to say, (i), that all rules should be founded 
on the question of right and wrong ; (2), that the good of 
the school and the protection of the rights of the individual 
should be the motive of a rule ; (3), that an evil should not 
be anticipated or suggested by a rule, but when such an 
evil exists it may be checked by a rule ; (4), let there be 



DO NOT TALK TOO MUCH. 



2 3 



first a warning, the rule to follow only if the warning is 
unheeded; (5), when a rule has been made it should be 
enforced with firmness and impartiality until it is no longer 
necessary, when it should be withdrawn. A great deal has 
been gained if the pupils are led to see that a .rule has 
been promulgated only, after an evil has appeared, and not 
merely to gratify a supposed whim of the teacher. Their 
attitude towards the rule will be very different, and the 
teacher will not find difficulty in its enforcement for the 
pupils are convinced of its j ustice and its necessity. 

2. Do not Talk Too Much. — This caution applies prob- 
ably more to old teachers than to beginners. There is 
danger owing to the very nature of teaching that one will 
fall into this habit. What teacher has not been obliged 
to condemn himself in reviewing a day's work for having 
used his voice too much. Sometimes the vocal organs 
themselves are the accusing monitor. And this is not 
only useless but demoralizing. Useless, for the bell can 
be made to give most of the commands. A light tap of 
the bell can be heard very distinctly above all schoolroom 
noises, and the children can be taught to heed it promptly. 
Do not hammer the bell. That is as bad as shouting at 
the children. Once I had an assistant who demolished a 
bell about every four weeks. After vainly remonstrating 
with her concerning the practice and pointing out its 
viciousness, I finally suggested that she would have to 
furnish her own bells. The result of the last suggestion 
was no more destruction of bells, and better order. Too 
much talking is also demoralizing. Children become in- 
different to sermons, threats, or long talks, whether it be 
in the school or in the home. Let what must be said be 



24 CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS 

spoken in quiet tones, in as few words as possible, without 
preaching, and without repetition. Be sure of attention 
when you speak, and teach the pupils that you mean just 
what you say. Then you will never need to accept the 
excuse, " I didn't hear you say it." If the teacher will 
observe this caution he will be spared a great deal of un- 
necessary weariness, and will be likely to have good order. 

3. Avoid the Use of Ridicule or Sarcasm. — I consider 
sarcasm the crudest of all weapons to be used with little 
children. It is not only cruel but dangerous. It hardens 
the heart instead of stimulating the wish to be good ; it 
makes the child stubborn instead of gentle and obedient ; 
it sears, and blisters, and withers, and defeats its very 
ends ; it introduces into the young and tender soul of the 
child resentment, and hatred, and bitterness, when there 
should be introduced penitence, sorrow, gentleness, and 
love. God knows, we all have soon enough to become 
acquainted with the chilling blight of ridicule ; let us not 
commit the crime of exposing the young and innocent 
lives, which it is our blessed privilege to direct, to the 
awful sting of sarcasm. And yet it is so handy a weapon 
that we are too apt to seize upon it. How easy it is to 
say to the child, "Now aren't you smart?" " You're a 
nice specimen!" or even more cruel expressions. Who 
of us have not known teachers that instead of calling forth 
the very best in their pupils, have obtained response only 
in fear and trembling, at least from the timid in the class ? 
With little children ridicule should never be used, either in 
word, tone, gesture, or manner. Awaken generous, open, 
and frank response by being sincere and frank yourself. 
Let the noble opportunity to shape the lives of little chil- 



DO NOT SEE INNOCENT MISCHIEF. 25 

dren be devoted not only to the studies of the school course 
but also to making them fit temples for the indwelling of 
the Holy Ghost. For his own sake, the teacher should 
guard himself against the habit of using sarcasm. It reacts 
upon one's own soul and one's own life. While it embitters 
the hearts of those upon whom it is inflicted, it also sears 
and withers the heart of the one indulging in it, and dries 
up every generous and noble aspiration of the soul. Above 
all things avoid the use of sarcasm. 

4. Do not See Every Piece of Innocent Mischief I 

know that there is danger connected with advice of this 
kind. The danger is that if the eyes are closed too fre- 
quently to mischief the school will get beyond the control 
of the teacher. Of course the wise teacher will know how 
to prevent this. I once had a teacher who came to me 
almost daily with complaints of little things that occurred 
in her class. I listened patiently to the worried young 
teacher's troubles for some weeks, suggesting remedies, 
until I came to the conclusion that she was seeing too 
much, that she was taking far too large account of matters 
that were innocent in themselves, that she was forgetting 
that lively boys and girls must sometimes "let off steam," 
that she was morbidly over-conscientious. I advised her 
to ignore many of the things that occurred. She thought 
my advice meant disaster, but after some reflection, con- 
cluded to act upon it. The result was better order, and a 
wonderful relief to the nerves of the teacher. Much of 
the mischief of children is entirely innocent, is not intended 
to annoy, but is simply the vent of animal spirits. " Ray- 
mond," said a wise primary teacher, " I want you to run 
down to the next corner and back just as hard as you can 



l6 CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS. 

run." The boy rushed out of school, made the run, came 
back and settled down quietly to his work. He had 
a superabundance of animal life in him that had to be 
worked off, and his teacher thus cured his mischievousness. 
Many a teacher thinks that mischief is done for the sake 
of personal annoyance to her. I think that this is seldom 
the case. The personality of the teacher does not enter 
into the case, even though the teacher may be the target. 
With older persons doubtless such motive does enter, but 
with young children very rarely. I think that this is an 
important fact that every teacher should not forget in dis- 
cipline. Let there be a genial good fellowship between 
teacher and pupils and many of the irrepressible acts of 
the schoolroom will not appear as unpardonable sins. 

5. Do not Threaten or Scold To threaten or scold 

does no good to either pupil or teacher. The pupil soon 
becomes indifferent, and the teacher sours in disposition, 
gets unfeeling and unsympathetic, and the schoolroom 
becomes a place whose very atmosphere is laden with joy- 
lessness. Let every teacher remember that if some of his 
pupils are ever to get glimpses of heaven in this life the 
schoolroom must furnish them. Truly the home has a 
large part of the education of the child charged to it, but 
how often is that contribution anything but good. Thank 
God for the bright and cheery schoolroom with its teacher 
full of love and sympathy to counteract the evils which 
many a home fosters. Many a boy gets new and truer 
views of life, which prepare him for a noble place in society 
and stimulate in him a hope for a better life through 
the influence of the presiding angel of the schoolroom. 
Let not that influence be endangered by an acrimonious 



BE SPARING IN CRITICISM. 



2 7 



use of the tongue, however trying the circumstances may 
be. If a threat has been made the teacher is less free to 
dispense justice tempered with mercy, should an offense 
be committed, than if no threat had been made. The 
thought of what had been promised in the threat must be 
present in the mind of the teacher, when there are often 
mitigating circumstances of which the teacher should be 
perfectly free to take advantage. Many a teacher has felt 
obliged to inflict too severe punishment because of a pre- 
vious " I told you I would do it, and therefore I must." 

6. Be Sparing and Kindly in Criticism but Generous 
with Praise — Criticism must be given as a stimulus to cor- 
rect faults ; but let it be kindly. I think that any criticism 
that angers the pupil, whether it be of work done or of 
conduct, may be safely set down as unwise if not actually 
detrimental. It necessarily defeats the end sought, the 
improvement of the pupil. Do not criticise for the sake of 
criticism, but for the purpose of removing the evil. Take 
time to show the reason for the criticism ; unless this is 
done it will be worthless. If it is worthy of notice it is 
worthy of careful treatment. Praise, on the other hand, 
may be more safely used. I do not mean fulsome praise 
that pronounces everything good without reference to 
effort. No work is good unless it is the child's best ; and 
if it is his best it is always good and should be praised, 
even though it is far inferior to that of another of greater 
skill or ability. Let it not be forgotten that it is the effort 
and not the result that must determine the praise or the 
criticism. I know a teacher who is so generous of praise 
that it becomes worthless in stimulating interest. I have 
seen her examine the slate-work of a class, and her expres- 



28 CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS. 

sions were, " How splendid," " Excellent," " Real nice," 
"Good," "That is exquisite," "Very fine," etc., entirely 
around a class of forty children. Now, that praise was 
indiscriminate, sometimes unmerited, and generally mean- 
ingless. And the worst of it was the children had be- 
come so accustomed to it that they expected it whatever 
the character of their work. Confectionery and cake are 
not objectionable, taken occasionally and in proper quanti- 
ties ; but to make a steady diet of them is nauseating and 
vicious. Whether it be praise or criticism, let discrimina- 
tion be used ; but I plead for the cultivation of that gener- 
ous spirit in the teacher which prefers to find the good 
rather than the bad in the child. 

7. Be Forbearing to the Dull and Uninteresting. — 

Everybody loves to teach the bright and interesting child. 
The true test of the teacher's power is his ability to arouse 
and instruct those who lack these qualities. I venture to 
assert that no work in the schoolroom produces larger 
results than that devoted patiently and sympathetically to 
giving the dull boy a chance. The history of many men 
who have made their mark in life abundantly substantiates 
the assertion ; and every old teacher finds among the most 
successful of the men whom he has had as pupils some 
who were classed as dull in the schoolroom. Sometimes 
the dull child possesses ability enough, but is slow in 
speech and sluggish in thinking. Very often all that is 
needed is something to arouse the dormant powers and 
stimulate the mental activities. Again, there may be a 
physical defect, the hearing may be dull, the eyesight de- 
fective. In every case there must be patience, kindness, 
and encouragement. Such a boy must have time to work 



BE FORBEARING TO THE DULL. 



2 9 



out his thoughts and express them, and the rest of the 
class must be taught to respect his efforts. I have a case 
in point that I shall never forget. I had taken charge of 
a new school, and one day called upon a boy about sixteen 
years of age to recite. He was an awkward German boy 
who spoke the English language quite brokenly. As he 
arose to recite, an audible titter went round the class 
before he had spoken a word, which broke into a laugh 
almost upon his first word. The boy sat down in confu- 
sion, and I afterward learned that my predecessor had 
made him the butt of ridicule, thereby encouraging the 
class in laughing at him. "What does this mean?" I 
said in surprise, " What is there to laugh at ? John, you 
may try again, and you may take all the time you need." 
And to the class I said, " This boy and every other boy in 
my class is going to have a fair chance, and I trust that 
no one will hinder him." John arose again, and by en- 
couraging him I secured a fair recitation. The class never 
again laughed at him, and in less than six months he stood 
head and shoulders above every other member of his class, 
and they all generously acknowledged it. He became the 
best student in my school, and is now a successful busi- 
ness man. Another case in the same school. Fred 

K^ was an awkward country boy, slow and uncultured, 

whom the other boys loved to " pick upon." I followed 
a similar course with him, and not long ago I received 
a letter from him telling me of his life since we parted 
fifteen or more years ago. He went through college, 
took a theological and then a post-graduate course, and is 
now one of the most successful ministers of the gospel 
that I know. Not one of the " brilliant " boys who ridi- 
culed him has begun to make the mark that he has. I 



30 CAUTIONS TO YOUNG TEACHERS. 

could give many similar instances. Every old teacher has 
numerous examples of the same kind, and the knowledge 
of them is one of the great compensations of the teacher's 
life — but these will suffice. Somehow these dull boys, 
who have to work for what they get, learn lessons of per- 
sistency and determination which stand them in good stead 
in the struggles of life. Too often the bright boy in 
school, who gets every lesson so easily, seems to expect 
in after life that the world is to be just as easily con- 
quered ; and when victory is not quickly won he lacks the 
courage and determination which compel success. But 
even if I were sure that the dull boy was lacking in real 
ability, and who can be sure of that ? I would still insist 
upon forbearance towards him. He has his rights in the 
school, and those rights demand that " That boy shall have 
a chance." 

8. Be Wise in Knowing When to Render Assistance, 
and When to Withhold It. — Is there not a tendency in 
the modern school to help the pupils too much ? Of 
course no one would go back to the old-fashioned method 
of " setting sums " in arithmetic, and requiring the boy to 
" dig them out " without any hint from the teacher as to 
their solution ; nor do we wish to return to the practice 
of assigning the lesson in geography or history by saying 
at the, last moment of the recitation, " Take the next two 
pages.' ' Doubtless this method made the few ambitious 
pupils self-reliant and strong, but it discouraged the ma- 
jority, and made the school of little use to them. Even 
to those who mastered the tasks set, it was often a great 
waste of time and strength. A little wise direction on the 
part of the teacher would have saved a vast amount of 



KNOW WHEN TO RENDER ASSISTANCE 



31 



unnecessary and ill-directed effort. To know just when 
to step in and render assistance is the problem that puz- 
zles the most experienced teacher. We all want our boys 
and girls to grow up self-reliant, so that they will not 
shrink from the hard duties of life, for education must 
prepare for life. And yet, in our eagerness to push them 
forward, in our desire to be up to the times in methods 
of instruction, I fear that we are doing too much ourselves 
and letting our pupils do too little. The old-fashioned 
school did too little, we do too much for the pupil. Will 
any thoughtful teacher deny that we have swung to the 
other extreme ? Education is self -activity, and only as the 
child is self-active can he learn. This is an eternal truth, 
and no device or " method " can vary it a particle. The child 
must act and think for himself, and all the teacher can do 
is to stimulate and direct his activities. It seems perfectly 
clear, then, that we must never do for the child what he 
can do for himself with reasonable effort, that we must 
watch his efforts and direct him at the right moment so 
that he shall not waste his strength, and that we must 
encourage him to be unwilling to be 

" Carried to the skies 
On flow'ry beds of ease," 

mentally as well as spiritually. Seek the best possible 
methods in education, but let us not forget that self-activity 
is the first law of education. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOLROOM. 

A Type of School. — Some years ago, while spending 
a few days in a village in Central New York, I made some 
inquiries about the public school. Everybody expressed 
the warmest satisfaction with the teacher and her work in 
the school. "Why," said they, "we have Miss Blank, one 
of the best known and most sought for teachers in this 
section of the county, if not in the state." I had heard 
of Miss B. as one who had established a local reputation 
as a teacher, and was therefore very glad of the oppor- 
tunity to see her work and study her methods. Accord- 
ingly I went to the school, where I found a tall, thin, 
sharp-visaged lady of perhaps forty winters. There were 
about thirty-five children, who, in spite of the warm sun- 
shine of that summer's day, were chilled into perfect 
automatons. There was not a whisper, not a bit of mis- 
chief, not a smile, not a natural or childish thing in that 
awful presence during the whole two hours that I forced 
myself to stay. I say "forced myself," for I was bound 
to discover why this woman had obtained such an enviable 
reputation as a teacher. Let me say that I went to this 
school with an honest desire to learn, and was wholly free 
from prejudice. I wish I could put on paper the impres- 
sions made upon me. The teacher was a perfect drill- 
master, and the order was perfect ; that is, if you mean 

32 



A TYPE OF SCHOOL. 



33 



by order the implicit subordination of the will required 
in the penitentiary, or that of trained dogs in the circus. 
But if you mean by order that intelligent and happy self- 
control which leads the pupils to attend to their own work 
with perfect freedom, naturalness, and joy, without inter- 
fering with that of others, then this school was wholly 
destitute of good order. 

The pupils rose in their seats with perfect precision, 
faced, marched, toed the line, recited, and then returned 
to their seats without the slightest show of interest, but 
with every evidence that they were in utter subjection to 
the awful despot that was over them. For all despotism 
is not confined to Russia, Turkey, and China. And yet, 
it was just this ability of the woman that gave her the 
reputation of being a fine teacher. She could make her 
pupils do exactly as she pleased ; and this, in the public 
mind, was the chief requisite of a school-teacher a quarter 
of a century ago. 

Her method of instruction conformed to the general 
type of her discipline. Holding the book before her, she 
read the questions and saw to it that the children gave 
the exact answers of the book. There was perfect rigidity 
in this respect, and it was painful to observe the anxiety 
of the pupils to get the right answer, and the relief ex- 
perienced when the teacher did not say " Next ! " I could 
not help feeling that she was better satisfied when she 
"caught them" than when their answer passed muster, 
that is, agreed with the book. I remember a spelling 
exercise. It was from an old-fashioned spelling-book, and 
the lesson consisted of columns of words of five or six 
syllables and definitions in words of equal length. It was 
surprising how those ten-year-old children could spell the 



34 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOLROOM. 



long words, give the equally long definitions, and spell 
them. As an exercise in spelling gymnastics it was hard 
to beat. But there was not a particle of knowledge 
gained, not an idea awakened, not a thought stimulated. 
The long definitions were as incomprehensible as the 
words, and the words as the definitions. Hence the les- 
son was an utter failure, and yet the children had done 
exactly what the teacher demanded of them. Of course 
there was ignorance of a rational method ; but I think 
there was something even more important lacking, and 
that was a proper spirit. There is such a thing as 
sympathetic method as well as sympathetic discipline. 
Both here were iron-clad and inflexible, and both were 
dangerous and harmful. The two ways in which a wrong 
spirit was manifested by this teacher — in discipline and 
method — are after all one thing, and I am disposed to 
think that there is a closer relation between a teacher's 
method and her discipline than we generally suspect. The 
hard, exacting, rigid disciplinarian is apt to be hard, exact- 
ing, and unsympathetic in method. 

Now I have described this teacher and this school at 
such length, and it is a true picture, in order to prepare 
the way for a discussion of what should be the true spirit 
of the schoolroom. Is there not something in the school- 
room of vastly more importance than the furniture, the 
text-books, the ventilation, the light, the course of study, 
the method of instruction ? Having all these most mod- 
ern and perfect appointments, the school may still be a 
failure if there is lack of the right spirit. The purpose 
of education is to form right character ; and to reach this 
end there is something of far more importance than costly 
apparatus and splendid environment, though the value of 



FREEDOM. 3 5 

these is by no means ignored. Just as the possession 
of a brown-stone front on a popular avenue, furnished 
with all the luxuries that wealth can devise, does not con- 
stitute a home, so there must be something besides 
material things to make a school. Let me point out the 
essential things, the presence of which indicates the real 
and proper spirit of the school. 

Freedom. — The largest freedom compatible with good 
order should be encouraged. Not only is this the best 
preparation for good citizenship in this land of ours, but 
the discipline of the school itself will be more natural and 
easy. The children should be allowed every possible 
schoolroom privilege, and should be trained to choose and 
act for themselves. Very much the same freedom that the 
employees of a large establishment would enjoy should be 
allowed children in the school. They should be permitted 
to speak to each other a word now and then, to go freely 
from one duty to another, to work together in harmony. 
This answers in the affirmative the question whether or 
not the children should be allowed to whisper. If the 
teacher treats this as matter of business, and trains the 
pupils to that idea, no serious trouble will ensue. I mean 
that if a child wants to borrow a pencil from another or 
to render some slight assistance to a fellow pupil, there is 
no reason why he should not do the natural thing and 
speak. That is just what one workman would do towards 
another, and no employer would feel that his interests were 
suffering thereby. Only when the men stop work to enter 
into long discussions would they be reprimanded. Is there 
not a lesson here for the schoolroom ? The wrong in 
whispering consists in its interfering with the rights of 



$6 THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOLROOM. 

others or in the general disturbance of order. It is not 
a crime or a sin. There is no reason why pupils may not 
be free in this respect and the order of the school not 
suffer thereby. Of course the guiding hand and mind of 
the teacher will be necessary, because the children are 
immature; but this idea is not Utopian, it is entirely 
practicable ; it is being done in many schools to-day. It is 
healthful, and it does much to make the school happy and 
homelike rather than like a penal institution. 

Unselfishness. — Many children come from homes where 
there are no other children, and hence they have had 
little training in the virtue of unselfishness. And even 
when there are several children, how often has this virtue 
been sadly neglected. Foolish and indulgent parents have 
pandered to their every wish, and they have been made 
to feel that the sun rises and sets for them. It is a sad 
thing when a child has been brought up to be selfish, and 
one of the important and divine opportunities of the school 
is to correct this. Life in common with others — on the 
play-ground, in the recitation, in all school activities — is 
the most wholesome means of eradicating unselfishness, 
and the teacher must ever have this purpose before him. 
Right here let me say, that too large stress upon percen- 
tages, too frequent comparisons of the records of two 
children, too much use of emulation, are to be guarded 
against if this spirit for which I am pleading is to be 
fostered. I do not say that emulation shall not be used, 
but it must be used discreetly. The alert teacher will 
find abundant opportunities to foster unselfishness both in 
the individual child and in the whole school. One of the 
best means to cultivate a spirit of unselfishness is to 



SELF-CONTROL. 



37 



interest the pupils at Thanksgiving or Christmas in some 
needy family ; or in time of famine or disaster to give of 
their own to relieve the suffering. In this respect truly 
they "learn to do by doing." In doing unselfish deeds 
they themselves will become unselfish. 

Self-Control. — The teacher is not the jailer of the 
children, whose office it is to stand over them to prevent 
mischief ; children must refrain from doing a thing not 
because the rule forbids it, but because it is right, and the 
question of right and wrong should decide every act. The 
school which does not teach the pupils the power of self- 
control is a failure. This power will be best cultivated 
under such conditions as I have described under the topic 
Freedom. It can be attained only by exercise. Placing 
pupils on their honor, giving them many privileges, expect- 
ing them to act from an inner sense of right, cultivates 
this power. The teacher must see to it that self-control 
extends to power over the body, the mind, and the con- 
science. Hence the necessity for physical and intellectual 
culture, and for fixing the morals through the inculcation 
of proper habits. It must not be forgotten that the 
power to exercise self-control is a sure indication of educa- 
tion, whether it be physical, intellectual, or moral. The 
child must be constantly called upon to exercise this power. 
Under the guidance of a wise teacher, increased liberty 
may be given to him to act according to his own volition. 
Thus he will come to measure his deeds not by the restric- 
tions of rules or laws, but by the higher sense of right and 
wrong implanted within him. In the school and in after 
life he will be controlled not by external forces, but by his 
own ever-present, constant, rightly-trained will. 



38 THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOLROOM. 

Interest. — There must be a spirit of investigation among 
the pupils of a school. They must not perform the tasks 
assigned without interest or understanding. There must 
be an intelligent, eager desire to know and to master. Just 
in so far as the pupils are interested in their work will it be 
successful. This interest will cause them to go to other 
books than their text-books, to open their eyes to the won- 
ders of nature, to question their parents, to want to know 
about the real things of life. Thus will the school become 
a genuine preparation for life because it is already a part of 
life. The natural tendency in the child to grow mentally 
will not be dwarfed, but healthfully stimulated in every 
proper direction. There is another side to this question 
of interest, and that is the wholesome pride of the pupils 
in the school, in its success, in its good name, and in its 
progress. When this exists, it is a most healthful sign. If 
the pupils have a genuine pride in their school, the teacher 
will find it easy to lead them at will into almost any enter- 
prise. Parents also will become interested, and instead of 
hindering the progress of the school by criticism, apathy, 
or neglect, they will support the teacher in every conceiv- 
able way. When the interest in the school is so vital that 
children talk about it at home, parents also will become 
aroused, and a most fruitful educational condition will be 
fostered in a community. 

Love. — Childhood is by nature lovely, and the person 
that has not the spirit of love within him, love for human- 
ity, love for children, ought not to become a teacher. 
Not harshness, not severity, not sharp criticism, not sour- 
ness, is to be the prevailing spirit of the schoolroom, but 
sympathy and love. The children must learn that even 



LOVE. 



39 



the punishments are dictated by love, — far-seeing, tender, 
solicitous, yearning love. They must feel that failure 
when they have done their best meets with the teacher's 
sympathy, and failure because of laziness or negligence 
grieves him. In him they must find one who rejoices 
when they rejoice, and who weeps when they weep. This 
must not be dissimulation on the one hand, or " gush " on 
the other. Children are quick to detect either, and they 
always despise insincerity. With this spirit of love in 
the schoolroom, and with these other essentials that I 
have discussed as the prevailing characteristics of the 
school, many evils will disappear, because the atmosphere 
there is wholesome, natural, and Christlike. 

The chief characteristic of the Great Teacher was love. 
He loved little children and taught his disciples, when He 
had set a little child in the midst of them, "Whosoever, 
therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the 
same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Let 
my readers ask themselves whether the school described 
at the beginning of this chapter is in any particular a 
picture of their school. If it is, let me advise them to 
seek the sunshine, the flowers, the trees, the beauties of 
God, and the spirit of the greatest of all Teachers, and 
gathering sweetness from them all, bring it back to their 
schoolroom so that the true spirit of divine love may abide 
therein. " But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three ; 
and the greatest of these is love." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE DAILY PROGRAM. 

One of the most important factors of a successful 
school is a properly arranged and well balanced daily 
program. It is not my purpose in this chapter to outline 
such a program in all of its details, but to lay down 
certain principles which rural and city teachers alike can 
apply. My readers are composed of teachers in the 
country ungraded school and in the city or town graded 
school. Some have mixed schools in which there must be 
twenty or more recitations, and others are in charge of 
one or two classes in a well graded school. Again, some 
are placed over sixty or seventy pupils, while others have 
less than half that number. No inflexible program there- 
fore can be laid down ; but there are certain general 
principles which apply to all kinds of schools. I think I 
shall show that there are laws which must be obeyed, 
or great loss of strength on the part of the teacher, lack 
of progress on the part of the pupils, and waste of time 
for both, must follow. With these fundamental principles 
as a guide the teacher will be able to construct a daily 
program suited to the local needs. 

Child Study What is to indicate the laws which 

shall give us the proper outline of the daily program ? It 
seems to me that the answer is to be found in Child 

40 



INVESTIGATIONS. 41 

Study. This is a recent movement in pedagogics, which, 
while it has thus far been somewhat desultory and imprac- 
ticable, has nevertheless been productive of some very 
excellent results. Take for instance the question of how 
rapidly the child thinks. It has been found that the 
average child of seven years comprehends the letter / in 
.368 of a second, the letter u in .382 of a second, and the 
letter b in .379 of a second. But the whole word tub is 
comprehended in .331 of a second. That is, the whole 
word is comprehended with 87 per cent of the average 
effort in comprehending the letters which comprise it. 
If Horace Mann had known that, half a century ago, what 
an answer he would have had to the voluminous objec- 
tions of the thirty-one Boston masters to the word-method 
which he advocated ! He could have shown the economy 
of effort and time of the word method over the alphabet 
method, to say nothing of other psychological advantages. 

"Augustine in his ' Confessions,' " says Karl Schmidt, 
" developed fifteen centuries ago a complete psychology of 
the human heart from which the pedagogue can learn 
more than from many theories." The trouble with the 
old psychology, so far as its application to pedagogy is 
concerned, is that it studied the mind of adults. Child 
study is building up a new psychology based upon the 
activities of the child mind, — the mind with which 
teachers have to deal. 

Investigations. — The investigations that have been 
made with children have had a variety of purposes with 
the general end in view of contributing to an educational 
philosophy. I propose to utilize three investigations made 
by three different men, and in three widely separated 



42 



THE DAILY PROGRAM. 



countries. There was no connection whatever between 
these men, nor was their purpose the same excepting in 
the general sense above indicated. Nor was either of 
them making a study of the daily program. The lessons 
which these separate investigations teach, I think we 
shall see, may be applied to the subject before us and 
enable us to draw certain conclusions. These results will 
have all the more force from the fact of the independent 
character of the investigations and of their having different 
purposes in view. 

Memory. — The first is a memory test made by Prof. 
Krohn of this country, with the object of discovering the 
period of the day when children's memory is most reten- 
tive. He tested some twenty-five thousand children. I 
suppose that the children tested were found in schools of 
all grades, city and country, graded and mixed, and that 
there were morning and afternoon sessions with a noon 
recess. I have constructed the following table to show the 
results at a glance and to enable comparisons : 



MEMORY TEST. 



PERIODS. 


TIME. 


Under the 

AVERAGE 

SCHOOL 
PROGRAM. 


When the order 

is Reading 

Gram. Arith. 

Geog. History 


Arithmetic 

El. Science 

Read. Draw. 

Geog. Hist. 


I 


8:30 to 
10 : 15 


.89 


.89 


.89 


II 


II to 12 


.62 


.58 


•79 


III 


1 to 2 : 30 


•74 


.68 


.82 


IV 


3 to 4 


.81 


.76 


.86 



MEMORY 



43 



Let us now study this table and see what lessons it 
teaches. It will be noticed in the first place that whatever 
subject is taken first in the morning the average retentive 
power of the children reaches 89 per cent. In the next place, 
under present conditions, that is taking the schools as we 
now find them, some with properly arranged programs and 
others with badly arranged ones, in Period II, the children 
remember only 62 per cent, a dropping off of 27 per cent 
from Period I. Does the teacher appreciate what that 
means ? It means that with such a program no amount of 
effort on her part, no expenditure of vitality, can overcome 
this terrible loss. Even the children are not at fault ; their 
mental powers are simply exhausted, and more than one-third 
of what their teacher tries to teach them and they try to 
learn, is lost. Of course one must admit that with powers 
depleted there must be some loss ; but need there be such 
a tremendous decrease in the ability to retain as this table 
shows ? is the important question before us. It will be 
remembered that this is not a discussion of the relative 
value of studies. If it is shown that by placing a subject at 
a certain time of the day it gains but little, and by putting 
it at another time of the day it loses but little, while another 
subject loses greatly by being placed at certain periods of 
the day, the general efficiency of the school will be en- 
hanced by placing the subjects where they will lose least, 
all the studies being taken into consideration. 

But this is not the worst side of the case. Let us look 
at the result of this second period, as shown in the next 
column. In this case reading comes first in the morning, 
grammar in the early forenoon, and arithmetic the last 
period in the forenoon session. We now find the condition 
of the memory still worse — for the average is only 5 8 per 



44 



THE DAILY PROGRAM. 



cent. The retentive power has decreased 3 t per cent 
from Period I, and is 4 per cent lower than under the first 
conditions in Period II. I ask teachers who wonder why 
their pupils forget so much, if here may not be found at 
least a partial explanation ? 

By a comparison of the result in the third period, that 
immediately after the noon recess, we find a recovery of 10 
per cent over Period II in this column, but still a loss of 
6 per cent as compared with the same period in the pre- 
ceding column. The rest and nourishment which the chil- 
dren have had thus bear immediate fruit. If instead of the 
noon recess there is but one session, which is continued till 
one or two o'clock, as is the practice in some cities, that last 
hour must of necessity witness still greater depletion of 
strength and therefore produce results still more appalling. 
Under the conditions where these tests were made, there 
was a noon recess of from an hour to an hour and a half. It 
would seem, then, that the question of the arrangement of 
the daily program is of most vital importance in places that 
have only one session a day, and that necessarily a long one. 

Turning our attention to the last period of the day, we 
find that there is a still further recovery, but the column in 
question still remains lower than that of the preceding, 
being 76 per cent against 81 per cent. Why there should 
be continued improvement during the afternoon session is 
hard to explain. We can see that after the digestion of 
the noon meal there may be some recovery. One would 
expect, however, that the depletion would be more rapid in 
the afternoon than in the forenoon. The other tests that 
I shall give bear out that expectation, but there are other 
conditions which may account for the difference of result. 
At least every teacher may observe the effect of the 



MEMORY. 45 

afternoon upon his own classes, and if teachers will do 
that an important end will have been gained. 

In the last column we have the result when arithmetic is 
placed first in the morning, some lighter subject like 
elementary science in the mid-forenoon, an easy subject, 
like reading or drawing at the end of the morning session, 
geography after the noon recess, and history at the final 
period of the day. Under this arrangement the percent- 
ages show a remarkable gain. Thus the improvement 
in the second period is 21 per cent over that of the 
same period in the preceding column, that of the third 
period shows an increase of 14 per cent, and that of the 
last period of 10 per cent. Again the falling off in the 
second period from that of the first period, or what we 
might call the normal, is only 10 per cent, that of the 
third period only 7 per cent, and that of the last period 
only 3 per cent. What better argument for a proper ar- 
rangement of the program than the story told in this last 
column? A saving of from 10 to 21 per cent would be 
considered a great thing by a merchant or a manufacturer. 
It would decide the question of success or ruin. Is not this 
saving a greater thing to the children, to the teacher, and 
to the public who pay for the schools ? If we can give 
our patrons more than 10 per cent better service without 
further drawing upon our strength, ought we not to do it ? 
And if we can do it with even less exhaustion, surely it should 
be done. For it must not be forgotten that the teacher is 
subject to exactly the same laws that the children are, and 
any plan that affords relief to the children will also afford 
relief to the teacher. I wonder if the arrangement of the 
daily program is not of far greater importance than most 
teachers have thought ! 



46 THE DAILY PROGRAM. 

y 

Accuracy Test. — The second was an accuracy test made 
by Prof. Friedrich of Wiirzburg, Germany. He experi- 
mented with a class of fifty children ten years of age, 
testing their accuracy with arithmetical problems, and 
with the dictation of difficult sentences. In some respects 
this investigation was more valuable than the memory 
test above given. Prof. Friedrich made all of the tests 
himself, upon the same boys, with the same exercises, at 
the same time, examining all the papers himself. This 
made the tests thorough, accurate, and scientific, and 
therefore trustworthy. His purpose was merely to find 
out under what conditions the pupils were most accurate. 
I think we may adapt his results to the solution of the 
problem we have in hand, — the arrangement of the daily 
program. 

It should be mentioned here that the common prac- 
tice in German schools as to the sessions is as follows : 
morning sessions, eight to twelve, six days in the week ; 
afternoon sessions, two to four, four days in the week, 
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons being free ; two 
hours' noon recess, and a short recess at the end of every 
hour ; subjects requiring least mental application, like 
drawing, singing, gymnastics, needle-work, are placed in 
the afternoon. Noting the above conditions, we should 
be prepared for results somewhat different from those of 
Prof. Krohn, especially in the afternoon. 

Prof. Friedrich tested the boys at eight, nine, ten, 
eleven, two, three, and four o'clock. He tested them with 
recesses and with none ; with two hours' work without 
rest, and with rest between the hours ; with three hours' 
work without rest, and under every possible condition in 
both forenoon and afternoon. His results are as follows : 



ATTENTION. 



47 



He found that the percentage of errors increased from 
two per cent at eight o'clock to seventeen per cent at 
eleven o'clock, when there had been no recess, and that 
the errors were reduced by nearly one-half when rests were 
taken. Here we have an incontrovertible argument for 
the recess. If it is found that the pupils can do more and 
better work in fifty minutes after a ten minutes' rest than 
they can do in sixty minutes without the rest, it would be 
a foolish teacher who did not give the recess. Here is 
another opportunity for observation by every teacher. 
Prof. Friedrich found that the noon recess does not give 
a complete rest, and that while there was an upward 
tendency for a while as the demands of the digestive 
organs grew less, the fatigue was more rapid in the after- 
noon than in the forenoon. This would mean of course 
that if the afternoon session is as long as the forenoon 
session, the last period of the day must produce weakest 
results. The Germans take cognizance of this by having 
only four afternoon sessions per week, by never having 
longer than a two hours' session, and by assigning for that 
time such subjects as drawing, gymnastics, needlework, 
singing, etc., as we have already seen. With the excep- 
tion of this last point, the results of the investigations as 
to accuracy are wholly in accord with those of memory. 

s^ Attention. — The third is the attention test made by 
Dr. Schuyten of Belgium. He attempted to find the 
conditions under which children study best. 

Dr. Schuyten's observations were made in four different 
schools. They do not include a thorough investigation of 
this important subject, being made simply with reference 
to temperature. But even the meager results obtained 



48 THE DAILY PROGRAM. 

have an important bearing upon this subject ; therefore I 
give them, hoping that others will take up the investigation 
and carry it still further. It can be done by any teacher 
any day without special formal rules of procedure. Dr. 
Schuyten found that the attention of children varies in- 
versely with the temperature of the atmosphere, being 
greater upon a cool day than upon a hot one ; that it is 
greater in the higher than in the > lower classes ; that it is 
higher among girls than among boys, and that it decreases 
from the beginning to the close of each half day, being 
greater in the morning. This last statement has special 
bearing upon our subject. It corroborates both of the 
other investigations so far as the morning is concerned. 
As to the afternoon, it agrees in general with Prof. Fried- 
rich's conclusions. This may be owing to the fact that the 
school hours of these two countries are much the same. 

It would seem, then, that if children remember best, are 
most attentive, and most accurate under the same condi- 
tions, these facts may be employed to suggest a proper 
arrangement of the daily program. 

From these investigations the following general princi- 
ples or conclusions seem inevitable : 

(i). An improperly arranged daily program incurs a fear- 
ful waste. (2). The subjects requiring closest attention, 
greatest use of memory, and strictest accuracy, must come 
in the early morning hours. (3). The weight of evidence 
seems to show that those standing second in point of diffi- 
culty should come after noon but not too close to the noon 
recess. (4). Subjects requiring the least application should 
be placed near the end of the session. (5). Frequent re- 
cesses are necessary, not only for hygienic reasons, but 
in order to secure the best educational results. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BASIS OF PROMOTION. 

One of the live questions that is just now agitating 
educational circles is that of promotion. It is by no means 
a new question, as ever since schools have been graded, 
teachers, principals, and superintendents have been seek- 
ing a rational solution of the problem. At least two 
important committees of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation have discussed this question and given the world 
the results of their careful deliberations. 1 Not only this, 
but from the platforms of educational gatherings, in maga- 
zines and teachers' periodicals, great prominence has been 
given to this question during the last few years. Some 
few thoughts, however, may serve to throw light upon the 
question and lead to careful and conservative action. 

Rapid Promotions. — A long experience with children in 
graded schools leads me to say, in the first place, I am 
convinced that there are comparatively few pupils who are 
seriously injured by being retarded in their school work be- 
cause they fail of rapid promotion. A child may be ahead 
in one subject and behind in others. The wise teacher, 
of course, will seek to strengthen the weak points, and to 
do this will hold the pupil back in the direction where 

1 See Report of the Committee of Fifteen, and Report of Committee 
of Twelve 

49 



50 THE BASIS OF PROMOTION. 

he is already strong. The child is not getting the best 
out of the school if he is allowed to go ahead in one sub- 
ject because he likes it, else we had better return to the 
old district school where the big boys " worked sums " and 
did nothing else. A student of the university may devote 
himself to one line of work, but not the child in our ele- 
mentary school, where the foundation of an all-round 
education is laid. Wise and experienced teachers know 
what the child needs better than he does ; and I repeat, 
teachers who are alert to the best interests of those com- 
mitted to them will allow no serious wrong to be done. 

Growth Versus Promotion. — The most important ques- 
tion is of growth and not of promotion. If courses of 
study are so arranged that the average gain possible under 
one system over another is more than two years, as has 
been claimed by some, there is something wrong some- 
where. A course should be planned so as to meet the 
average ability of each class. If it is, only the exceptions in 
the class fall below or exceed the requirements. For both 
of these classes provisions must be made. Dr. Edward R. 
Shaw says : " The newer conception of what should con- 
stitute a course of study must not be sacrificed or violated 
in any new scheme for the irregular promotion of pupils. 
It is not a difficult matter to move pupils on through the 
grades at irregular intervals, when the requirement of so 
much book knowledge, in a formal way, is all that is re- 
quired. The problem becomes a much more serious and 
difficult one when constant provision is made for the 
thought side of education, as above the formal side." 
This is a clarion note of the right kind. It indicates the 
true basis of promotion, which is advance in thought- 



DANGER OF TOO RAPID PROMOTION. £1 

power. If a given pupil is securing a normal growth, it is 
not of a particle of account in what class he is registered, 
— the school is doing its best for him. 

Danger of Too Rapid Promotion. — We are inclined to 
push our children too fast, faster than they can appreciate 
and assimilate. To do this is a greater wrong than is 
done by a pace that is too slow, because it encourages 
superficiality, and makes mastery of the subject sub- 
servient to advance in grade. Of course promotion is 
popular both to pupil and parent, because it suggests 
progress, even though the teacher, the real judge, knows 
that it tells a falsehood. It also panders to the spirit of 
rush and hurry of Americans, which I think does not need 
encouragement in our schools. The teacher is the edu- 
cational expert ; and he should not yield to outside pressure 
in the promotion of pupils, even though he knows that it 
would be popular and would satisfy parents. It would 
be as reasonable for a parent to take matters into his 
own hands if his son were recovering from typhoid fever, 
and decide when he may get up or eat solid foods contrary 
to the advice of his physician, as it is for him to insist 
upon the promotion of his child contrary to the advice of 
the teacher. If he understands the welfare of his child, 
he will abide by expert opinion in each case, even though 
it be contrary to his own wish or judgment. There is far 
more danger in too rapid than in too tardy promotion ; for 
the former is a pleasurable act for the teacher, and the 
latter a grievous one. The best good of the child is sub- 
served only when he is placed in the grade which calls 
forth all the effort of which he is capable, not beyond his 
power so as to discourage him, not below his power so as 



5 1 THE BASIS OF PROMOTION. 

to make him feel that no effort is necessary. There is no 
duty of the teacher that calls for greater wisdom, firmness, 
or conscientiousness than the decision as to what pupils 
may go on into the next class, and what ones must remain 
unpromoted. 

Progress Already Made. — That there have been serious 
evils growing out of a too rigid system of grading is true ; 
that these evils have not been wholly removed is also true ; 
but great progress has been made. Dr. Harris, in discuss- 
ing the plan by which pupils were promoted only once a 
year, and setting them back for another whole year if, upon 
examination, they did not quite reach the required percent- 
age, says : " This evil has been remedied in nearly one-half 
of the cities by promoting pupils whenever they have com- 
pleted the work of a grade. The constant tendency of 
classification to become imperfect by reason of the differ- 
ence in rates of advancement of the several pupils, owing 
to disparity in age, degree of maturity, temperament and 
health, makes frequent reclassification necessary. This is 
easily accomplished by promoting the few pupils who dis- 
tance the majority of their classmates into the next class 
above, separated as it ought to be by an interval of less 
than half a year. The bright pupils thus promoted have 
to struggle to make up the ground covered in the interval 
between the two classes ; but they are nearly always able to 
accomplish this, and generally will in two years' time need 
another promotion from class to class. The procrustean 
character of the old city systems has been removed by 
this device." 

A more recent statement by Dr. Prince confirms the 
opinion of Dr. Harris that these evils are surely disappear- 



FREQUENCY OF PROMOTIONS. 53 

ing. He says : tx The written examination as a sole means 
of ascertaining pupils' fitness for promotion seems to be 
passing away. The teacher's judgment alone generally 
determines the class in which pupils of the primary schools 
are placed." The practice now in many of our city sys- 
tems is to give a so-called " honorary ' ' to pupils who have 
sustained themselves sufficiently well during the year or 
term to warrant their promotion without examination. 
The teacher is the judge of the fitness of the pupil to 
go on, and the hope of securing an "honorary" is a 
constant stimulus to do good steady work throughout the 
year. 

Every live schoolman is in thorough accord, both in 
theory and practice, with what Dr. Harris further says : " In 
all good school systems the pupils take up new work when 
they have completed the old, and the bright pupils are 
transferred to higher classes when they have so far dis- 
tanced their fellows that the amount of work fixed for the 
average ability of the class does not give them enough to 
do." 

There are three questions that I wish to consider, and 
around these the whole discussion centers. (1). How often 
shall promotions take place ? (2). Who shall be the judge 
of them ? (3). Upon what shall the decision be based ? 

Frequency of Promotions 1. How often shall promo- 
tion take place ? Dr. Harris intimates that it should take 
place at least twice a year for the class, and for individuals 
whenever they have completed the work of a grade. I 
would say that with a properly adjusted course of study, 
the aim should be to promote the class twice a year, 
but each class should be divided into two or three sec- 



54 



THE BASIS OF PROMOTION. 



tions, according to the needs of the pupils. The primary 
classes will need more sections than the advanced classes. 
Pupils may be changed from one section to another at the 
discretion of the teacher in charge, so as to give them 
proper work. At the half-year promotion all of the 
sections may be promoted and constitute like sections in 
the next grade. Of course the poorest in the lowest sec- 
tion may be kept back and be placed in the highest section 
of the old grade. Especial attention should be given to 
these, so that if at any time they demonstrate that they 
can be moved up to the next grade, it shall be done. 
The promotions within a grade may be made by the class- 
teacher. If she thinks that any child can move into the 
next grade, the principal and the teacher of the next grade 
should be consulted ; and if, after studying the interests of 
the child, it is thought that he will receive more benefit in 
the higher grade, let him be promoted at any time. 

This very simple arrangement will form a flexible system 
which will have proper regard for the individual child, and at 
the same time respect the course of study. It would be a 
great mistake to abandon periodical promotions, and promote 
pupils at any time that they may seem ready. I repeat 
that no serious wrong is done by holding back some pupils. 
Let them become more thorough and stronger in present 
work, and they will sustain themselves better in the higher 
classes. I know a school which boasts of its ability to hurry 
the preparation for college, thereby saving one or two 
years. Students from this school, it is true, get into 
college earlier than they would if they took a thorough 
preparation, but the whole college course is a burden to 
them, and not a student from that school has ever carried 
off a single college honor. You cannot force educational 



RIPENESS AND ABILITY. 



55 



growth any more than you can force vegetable or animal 
growth and yet maintain normal conditions. 

Class-Teacher Judge of Fitness — 2. Who shall be the 
judge of promotion ? This question has already been par- 
tially answered above. The class-teacher, so far as the 
sectional promotions are concerned, is the best possible 
judge. He knows whether or not the child is receiving 
the best that can be offered him. He meets him four or 
five hours a day, has him in all of his subjects, and thus 
can judge as to what is wise. When it comes to passing 
to another grade and another teacher, that other teacher 
should have a voice in the matter, the principal standing as 
the final umpire. In doubtful cases the whole faculty of a 
school should deliberate, and the wisdom and experience 
of all be exercised in deciding what is for the best good 
of the child. No prejudice, or sentiment, or social influ- 
ence may enter into the decision. What is best for the 
child, is the question, and the only question, that should 
influence the teacher in judging a matter of promotion. 

Ripeness and Ability 3. Upon what shall the decision 

be based ? I answer upon the ability and ripeness of the 
child. It may not be wise to promote a child who is young 
or sickly, even though he possess the ability. And again 
the voice of the grade teacher must be the principal factor 
in deciding this. He may reach the decision by means of 
examinations, tests, reviews, daily work, or by any means 
he pleases ; but no mathematical basis, such as 60 per cent 
or 75 per cent, shall decide him. I have known a pupil 
to be kept back a whole year because he had only reached 
74 T 9 per cent when the average passing mark was 75. 



56 THE BASIS OF PROMOTION. 

The teacher's opinion did not enter into the matter at all. 
It was simply a question of per cent. Is it any wonder 
under such a system that many pupils withdrew from the 
school rather than repeat the work of a whole year ? 
There are manifest advantages in the use of letters, — E 
(excellent), G (good), P (passed), and F (failed), — because 
in the use of these there is constant call for exercise of 
judgment by the teacher, while the dangers of mathemati- 
cal statements are avoided. 

Such a basis of promotion will avoid the evils of the old 
system, will awaken confidence in the sincerity and justice 
of the teacher, will make an incentive to steady, system- 
atic work, and will place pupils where they can do their 
best work. 



CHAPTER VII. 

POLITENESS. 

It is an oft-repeated aphorism that the aim of the school 
is to prepare for life. Just what this means may be a sub- 
ject for discussion, and it is not my purpose to define this 
definition. One phase of this preparation for life, surely 
has reference to conduct, and this I wish to discuss. Mat- 
thew Arnold says, " Conduct is three-fourths of life." If 
this be so, may it not be seriously asked whether our 
American schools are paying sufficient attention to this 
subject, especially to that finer side of conduct which we 
term politeness ? It is only this side that I propose to 
discuss. 

Lack of Politeness Handicaps Without politeness a boy 

is seriously handicapped. Emerson says, " Give a boy ad- 
dress and accomplishments, and you give him the mastery 
of palaces and fortune wherever he goes ; he has not the 
trouble of owning or earning them ; they solicit him to 
enter and possess." We form an estimate of people by 
their manners. This may not always be just, but used 
with discrimination it is a pretty safe rule. Many a boy 
is seriously hindered from advancement in life because the 
home or the school has not taught him good manners. It 
rests upon the school, therefore, to give greater attention 
to this training, because the home of the future depends 
largely upon the teaching of the school of to-day. 
57 



58 



POLITENESS. 



The Virtue of Civilization * — " Politeness is the virtue of 
Civilization," says Rosenkranz. He, then, who is most 
polite is most civilized. This means real politeness and 
not mere external form. A few years ago a great ship 
loaded with passengers was wrecked off the coast of New- 
foundland. In a few minutes after she was struck she 
sank, carrying to the depths hundreds of human souls. 
Of those saved, two boat-loads of sailors were picked up 
perfectly dry. Forgetful of duty, they had seized the 
boats, beaten off the frantic women and children who 
struggled in the water, and saved themselves. Had they 
listened to the commands of their officers many lives might 
have been spared. They were mere savages — uncivilized 
in their cowardly desire to save themselves when duty 
called upon them to save those committed to their charge. 
And yet they belong to a nation called the most polite 
in the world. 

A few months later an English ship likewise met with 
disaster. " Save the women and children first/' was the 
command of the captain ; and the brave British sailors 
stood at their posts until every passenger was safe when 
they, too, were saved. Which of these showed true civili- 
zation, unselfishness, politeness ? Politeness is unselfish- 
ness as well as civilization. 

Form versus Spirit of Politeness — There are two phases 
of politeness to which I wish to call attention, its form and 
its spirit. I think that we are sadly lacking in forms of polite- 
ness. We do not compare favorably with other peoples in 
this respect. It is in the hope of correcting this fault that 
I write this chapter. Let me give some concrete examples 
of national types. 



FORM VERSUS SPIRIT OF POLITENESS. 



59 



Some years ago I visited a public school in Hanover, 
Germany. It was a most agreeable surprise to me the 
day after my first visit to be greeted respectfully on 
the street by a number of boys. They were from the 
public school, and though I had not recognized them they 
recognized me. Another instance : one day while walking 
in the Thier Garten at Berlin I met a group of boys at 
play. Suddenly every boy stopped play and doffed his 
cap to me, and I remembered them as members of a 
public school which I was accustomed to visit. There 
was nothing servile in their conduct, but only a manly 
and gentlemanly token of respect, a spirit of politeness 
which I found to be a universal characteristic of German 
children. 

An American boy of nine and a girl of eight were visit- 
ing in my home. A lady called and I introduced the 
children to her. Neither of them showed the slightest 
knowledge of what to do, but simply stood awkwardly 
looking out of the corner of their eyes at the lady without 
a word of response. It was not timidity, for neither of 
them was afflicted in that way. It was simple ignorance 
of one of the simplest practices of etiquette. And their 
parents are people of culture, the father being a profes- 
sional man of good standing, and their mother a lady of 
high social position. It is certain that children of the 
humblest parents in Germany, under like circumstances, 
would have stepped forward in a polite way, given the hand 
and said, " How do you do ? " Now, we Americans do not 
like comparisons disparaging to ourselves, but I have 
merely stated facts as they actually occurred. Who will 
say that this does not illustrate a very common charac- 
teristic of American children ? 



60 POLITENESS. 

American Children. — I once read in an educational 
paper from an address of a school superintendent these 
words : "It has been said by a recent writer in an edu- 
cational magazine, ' What the children think, an American 
community soon thinks and endorses.' Right or wrong, 
our children are our rulers." It is not necessary to discuss 
the arrant nonsense contained in the quotation, or the ap- 
parent endorsement of the speaker. If children are the 
ones to whom we are to look for our thinking we had 
better turn back to the childhood of the race, for all of 
the world's progress were in vain. But the sentiment 
that " our children are our rulers " evidently does possess 
the American mind. A father somewhat proudly told me 
of his four-year-old son, — " Charley don't see why he 
should obey me any more than I should obey him." I 
may add that as Charlie couldn't " see it " the father did 
the obeying. Children are not taught to respect the rights 
of their elders, but to receive the respect of their elders to 
their rights. Hence the boy or girl quietly retains the 
seat in the car while older persons stand, takes the choice 
of seat at church, pushes before others in passing through 
a door, and expects the choicest food on the table served to 
him or her first. Now, I believe in " children's rights " 
most thoroughly ; but I seriously question whether in our 
eagerness to give our children everything we are not really 
often depriving them of their rights, in that we are making 
them arrogant, assuming, immodest, and impolite. Then, 
too, we are teaching them selfishness, which, as we have 
seen, is another name for lack of politeness. It is the 
right of every child to be taught obedience, unselfishness, 
modesty, politeness, and every good quality that goes to 
make character. And if we fail in teaching any one of 



FORM AND SPIRIT OF POLITENESS. 6 1 

these we are depriving the child of his rights and are doing 
him positive wrong. 

Forms of Politeness. — But what are the forms of polite- 
ness that should be taught in the school ? I may merely 
outline the most essential without undertaking to explain 
or discuss them. For the details I can only refer to books 
on etiquette. The following, at least, should be taught : 
How to introduce, and to receive an introduction ; how and 
when to raise the hat, and other forms of greeting ; table 
manners, at least such as the most ordinary social form 
requires ; when to give place to others, in passing through 
doors, in street cars, etc. ; when to excuse one's self and 
how to do it ; respect for older persons and how to show 
it ; treatment of inferiors in position, such as servants, 
subordinates, etc. ; conduct towards one's own family, for 
politeness that does not extend to a boy's own mother or 
sister falls far short of genuine politeness. The wise 
teacher will know how to teach all of the preceding with- 
out offending any one. Indeed, by equipping his pupils 
with this knowledge and forming in them these habits, he 
gives them self-poise and self-command. 

Spirit of Politeness. — As to the spirit of politeness, I 
think the illustration of the conduct of the sailors on the 
two sinking ships makes clear my meaning. This spirit is 
unselfishness. I am confident that no people possess this 
in a higher degree than the American people. But to this 
must be added certain commonly accepted conventional 
forms. My little boy friend who tips his hat to me and 
shouts " Hello," has the spirit but not all of the form. The 
boy who unintentionally hit a lady on the street and 



Si POLITENESS. 

shouted back, without even turning his head, " Excuse 
me," had a little of the form but none of the spirit of 
politeness. Mr. Marden gives a recipe for the acquirement 
of good manners which illustrates this principle. It is as 
follows : 

" Of unselfishness, three drachms ; 

" Of the tincture of good cheer, one ounce ; 

" Of essence of heart's-ease, three drachms ; 

" Of the extract of the rose of Sharon, four ounces ; 

" Of the oil of charity, three drachms, and no scruples ; 

" Of the infusion of common sense and tact, one ounce ; 

" Of the mixture of love, two ounces. 

" The mixture to be taken whenever there is the slight- 
est symptom of selfishness, exclusiveness, meanness, or 
I-am-bet ter-than-you-ness. ' ' 

He adds, 

"Pattern after Him who gave the Golden Rule, and 
who was the first true gentleman that ever breathed." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 

An eminent German teacher, who came to this country as 
the Prussian royal representative of educational matters to 
the Columbian Exposition, remarked to me, "There are 
three things in American education that profoundly im- 
pressed me. 

1. The liberty which teachers have to try new experi- 
ments. 

2. The working libraries to be found in connection with 
every school. 

3. The superior discipline." 

I was not surprised at the first two of his points, but 
confess that for a Prussian schoolmaster to admit that our 
discipline was superior rather astonished me. I was 
familiar with the German idea of school discipline ; the 
rigid, unquestioning, military discipline which is so mani- 
fest in the schoolroom, and so thoroughly typical of Ger- 
man life. That so eminent an authority in school matters 
should have a good opinion of us was a matter of consider- 
able gratification to me. 

German Idea of Discipline Accordingly, in order that 

there should be no misunderstanding, I asked my friend 
to tell me just what he meant by discipline. His reply, 
which I shall give in my own words, opened my eyes to a 

63 



6 4 



GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 



larger view of the subject than I had heretofore had, and 
led me to feel that in school discipline we have a proper 
conception. He spoke of the perfect self-command of the 
pupils in schools he had visited, notably of the students 
in the New York Normal College. He thought that 
our children are being taught self-control in the school, 
and this power shows itself in life in a remarkable degree. 
An example of this was furnished him on " Chicago Day " 
at the exposition. Seven hundred and fifty thousand peo- 
ple passed through the gates that day, probably the largest 
number of people ever gathered together in one mass in 
the history of the world. He witnessed also the great 
crowds carried by the Illinois Central Railroad, by cable- 
cars, and by trains on the elevated railroad. "And yet," 
said he, "there was not a single jam during the whole day, 
either at the gates or in the transportation facilities." 
"Why," he further added, "with us, if four or five people 
wanted to get into a horse-car there would be a jam." 
I saw what he meant by discipline ; it was self-control. 

What higher compliment to this phase of our education 
could any one pay ? Doubtless there are other factors 
that have contributed to this result which Dr. Bertram did 
not take into account. Our theory of government, " Gov- 
ernment of the people, by the people, for the people," as 
Lincoln puts it, has a great deal to do in developing self- 
control. The recognition of social equality would be 
another factor, for there would be no inordinate fear on 
the part of any one that to yield precedence on a street- 
car means destruction of social precedence. Perhaps most 
of all, is the absence of paternalism in our order of things 
in America. Here every man is expected to take care of 
himself or take the consequences. In Germany he is to 



IMPORTANCE OF GOOD ORDER. 65 

be taken care of, to be prevented from running into 
danger. This is a strong element in the development of 
self-control. 

It would seem, then, that we are certainly tending in 
the right direction in school discipline. It is the duty 
of our schools to prepare men and women to take care 
of themselves ; and if the teacher has such a view of his 
work that he does not maintain order merely to " hold 
things together" and remain master of the situation for 
each session of school, but to make self-reliant, law- 
abiding, polite, self-controlled men and women, then that 
teacher is working towards a right ideal. 

Importance of Good Order It is for the purpose of 

helping teachers in this important work that I address 
them on the subject of Good Order. I desire to be plain 
and practical, and therefore I may be excused for using 
concrete examples. Every one knows that the mainte- 
nance of good order in the school causes the most serious 
apprehension to the young teacher. The schoolroom would 
be heaven to the enthusiastic teacher if it were not that 
human nature manifests itself there, often in its worst 
form. It is not lack of knowledge, bad methods of instruc- 
tion, or want of the true spirit of the teacher, which first 
attracts the attention of the superintendent or schoolboard, 
but inability to keep order. This is a rock upon which 
many a teacher is shipwrecked. And there does not 
seem to be anything in our scheme for the preparation of 
teachers that quite fortifies them against this danger. In 
their practice-work they are sustained more or less by the 
influence, if not the presence, of the critic or the regular 
teacher. Their work in theory gives them a foundation 



66 GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 

that will be most helpful when they are established ; but 
when they begin, it is like being dropped into the middle 
of the sea and told to sink or swim, or like being placed at 
the rudder of a ship the first time they step aboard and 
required to steer. Lectures on swimming, or a previous 
study of navigation, will help in the end, but at first the 
novice is bewildered and ignorant of what to do. 

I think many are at fault in not understanding what 
is good order and what is disorder. By a series of nega- 
tive and affirmative propositions I shall try to make the 
difference clear. 

Absolute Stillness Order does not mean absolute still- 
ness. It does sometimes mean just that. For instance, 
during the morning exercises, when the teacher or some 
one else addresses the school, or when perfect silence is 
demanded. We have a notion in this country that to re- 
quire a child to sit still is repression, that it will destroy the 
" young America " in him. Now, I love the spirit of freedom 
which characterizes the American youth and which the very 
atmosphere of our land fosters. That is the spirit that 
Dr. Bertram discovered. But there is a species of so-called 
" young Americanism " which I do not like. This shows 
itself, among other ways, in the nuisance that children 
often make of themselves in church, or at other public 
gatherings. Not many years ago there sat just in front of 
me in church, a boy of nine or ten who was constantly wig- 
gling and squirming. He would open a hymn-book, turn its 
leaves, drop it on the floor, pick it up, put it in the rack — 
but I do not need to go on, all of my readers have been 
through a like experience. I remonstrated with him in a 
mild way at the close of service one Sunday, and his father 



POSITION OF THE BODY. 6j 

was actually indignant that I thought these youthful activi- 
ties should be repressed. The boy took the hint, however, 
and there was no further trouble, proving that his actions 
were not at all necessary and that none of his natural rights 
had been abridged. And if they had, some fifty other 
people sitting around him had rights too. Now, that boy 
needed to be taught to sit still, and the school ought to 
have instilled in him that lesson as essential to good order- 
But there are only a few times in the day when absolute 
stillness is necessary. I once knew a teacher who prided 
herself on being able to hear a pin drop at any time of the 
day. Now, I do not think she had good order. It was 
painful, repressive, and wholly needless. A certain amount 
of noise indicates work. While the engine is running, 
when the wheels are turning, when the mill is grinding, 
when the carpenter is sawing, there is noise, but it is not 
disorder, it does not disturb. But let some machine break, 
let the carpenter while sawing strike a nail, and there is 
noise ; that is disorder. Every mother knows that too 
profound a stillness in the nursery is ominous. The 
teacher should train herself not to be disturbed by a proper 
amount of noise in her schoolroom, but on the other hand 
to be at once alert when the noise is of the wrong kind, 
just as the miller will awake from his nap when the grain 
has run out of the hopper, not because there is more or 
less noise but because it is of the wrong kind. So good 
order in the schoolroom cannot be denned as the absence 
of noise. 

Position of the Body Good order does not imply a 

formal position of the body. And yet it does sometimes 
require just that. When a boy stands to recite, he should 



68 GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 

stand erect in a manly way until he has finished what he 
has to say. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. 
There is a close connection between loose physical condi- 
tions and loose knowledge, loose thoughts, loose expression. 
I have alluded in another chapter (p. 86) to the transition 
which took place in some German soldiers. With the erect 
body, the precise movements, the soldierly bearing, there 
came alertness of mind, quickness of perception, self- 
respect. So when a boy is required to stand erect or to sit 
properly he is gaining the self-command, the freedom, 
which is education. Good order certainly conforms to the 
above idea. 

But this is only an incident of schoolwork, though an 
important one. Go into a German school and you will 
always find the children sitting erect with hands meekly 
folded, until the teacher asks a question, when those who 
can answer raise a finger. Now, I do not want any such 
idea of order as that in our schools. That is repression. 
Teachers sometimes think that their room is in bad order 
if all pupils are not sitting erect. Just as the carpenter 
bends his body to the board he is planing, just as the 
horse-shoer must adjust his body so as best to do his task, 
just as any workman must suit the position of the body to 
the work in hand, so must the pupils be at liberty to choose 
the position of their bodies in order best to do their work. 
Let no teacher be disturbed then, if his pupils do not 
always sit erect at their work, and let no inspector find 
fault with the teacher who does not insist upon formal 
attitudes of the body during regular work, provided the 
pupils are busy and interested in their work, and provided, 
also, that the positions taken are not uncouth, unnatural, 
or unhealthful. 



SEEING MISCHIEF. 69 

Seeing Mischief. — Good order does not require the 
teacher to see every piece of innocent mischief. The 
teacher should remember that little children are full of 
life and brimming over with fun. This is a natural 
instinct of childhood, and every one delights to see it. 
Without this spirit all the powers of the child would 
stagnate, but it must not be allowed to go too far, must 
not be unbridled. Each teacher must decide for himself 
how far he can allow mischief to go without its becoming 
dangerous. It is like driving a spirited horse. The horse 
may go at a rapid pace, but if he yields to the tightening 
rein and obeys the word of command, there is safety. If 
instead he takes the bit in his teeth and goes at will, there 
is danger because control is lost, even though the pace 
may not be fast. So the teacher may allow liberty to his 
pupils just so far as he can do so without their running 
away with him. There is a difference in teachers in this 
respect, just as there is a difference in drivers. Each 
must know his own power, and exercise it in time to pre- 
vent disaster. 

I have known teachers to make themselves and their 
pupils miserable because they saw every mischievous act, 
and felt constrained to call the culprit to account. This 
made discipline the principal feature of the school, rather 
than an incident. Now, good order is important, and with- 
out it the school cannot be successful. But it must not 
be a conspicuous feature. It is a means to an end and 
not the end itself. The main end of the school is to 
instruct, and order should be exercised with reference to 
that end. I once had a teacher who came to me daily 
to complain of the disorder of the girls in her corridor. It 
was in a boarding-school, and she was in charge of a hall 



70 



GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 



of some sixteen girls. One day it was loud talking, 
another it was laughing, again it was failure to keep the 
study hours faithfully. I called up the girls and questioned 
them carefully. It gradually grew upon me that the fault 
was chiefly with the teacher, who was nervous, fussy, and 
falsely conscientious. I found that the girls were well- 
meaning, and that in most cases no wrong had been 
intended. I therefore had a kindly talk with the teacher, 
and told her frankly that I thought the trouble lay with 
her and that she saw too much. No doubt she felt at first 
as many an assistant has, that her principal was wanting 
in appreciation of her difficulties, and was not giving her 
the support that was her due. Of course none of the 
students knew of my attitude in the matter. But after 
reflection, Miss P. began heroically to change her own 
habit with reference to her charge. It required some- 
thing of a struggle on her part, but she finally conquered. 
The result was peace of mind to her and good order in 
that corridor. 

One more point in this connection. Sometimes teachers 
are distressed because their pupils imitate some peculiarity 
of theirs. It may be peculiarity of walk, poise of body, 
habit of speech, facial expression, something that attracts 
the child's attention and he imitates it. Now I do not 
think for a moment, that this is personal. An adult may 
be and often is cynical, the child never. He notices some- 
thing different from what he is accustomed to, and tries to 
see if he can do the same. It would have saved me a 
great deal of pain as a teacher in early life if I could have 
appreciated the above truth, and realized that when chil- 
dren imitated my peculiarities, it was not aimed at me, it 
was wholly impersonal, and therefore in the main, innocent. 



WHAT GOOD ORDER IS. 



7 1 



Thus far I have been showing what good order does 
not require, and yet I think my readers have discovered 
through this negative treatment pretty nearly what I 
mean by good order. Nevertheless, it may be profitable 
to state the positive side of the question in a final 
proposition. 

What Good Order Is. — Good order in the schoolroom is 
attained when every pupil attends to his own work at tlie 
proper time without imnecessary noise, promptly and cheer- 
ftdly obeys the teacher, and, above all, exercises perfect 
self-control. 

The first of these propositions has already been dis- 
cussed under other heads. I have tried to show that it is 
expected of the pupil that he shall never be idle. Idle- 
ness in itself is disorder, and the teacher should be disturbed 
by it. Then the work engaged in must belong to that 
particular time. A time for everything and everything in 
its own time is an aphorism in school government, which, 
if observed, will go a great way to secure good order. It 
also establishes a habit that is vitally essential to success 
in after life. Every child should understand not only that 
he must be busy, but that he must be busy with the task 
that belongs to each particular period. ' Methodical habits 
will thus be formed, and these, too, are a part of education 
as well as of good order. Of course this necessitates a 
statement in the daily program of seat -work to be done, 
as truly as the work of the recitations ; and the teacher 
should hold the pupils to the one as strictly as to the 
other. This will save a great deal of confusion, and do 
much to secure a proper preparation of the lessons. It 
will also prevent the unnecessary noise which distracts 



72 



GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 



attention and destroys the respectability of the school. 
Then it will be easier for the teacher to distinguish 
between "the noise of busy industry," and the noise 
which is disorder. 

Of course there must be obedience, prompt, cheerful, 
unquestioning, complete. This is essential to good order. 
Mary Lamson tells us in her " Life of Laura Bridgman," 
of a most remarkable incident which illustrates my point. 
Briefly told it is as follows : Laura Bridgman, it will be 
remembered, was a blind mute, whose case interested the 
world half a century ago, as Helen Keller's interests us 
now. The teacher found one day that Laura had neg- 
lected to put away her things into her school desk. She 
reprimanded the child, and told her to put them away. 
Laura did as she was bidden, but brought down the desk- 
cover with a vicious bang, showing bad temper. Her 
teacher told her to take them out and put them away 
quietly. She did exactly as she was told, but gave an 
awful screech that startled every one in the room who 
possessed the sense of hearing. Seeing that the child 
was angry and excited, the teacher wisely refrained from 
pursuing the matter further at that time, but she with- 
held her confidence from Laura, thus showing her dis- 
pleasure. Now, this child had rendered no true obedience 
at all up to this point, nor did she until three days later, 
having repented of her wrong doing, she begged her 
teacher's forgiveness. Obedience means the yielding of 
the will. I do not believe that good order has been 
secured in a school until the pupils have learned to yield 
cheerful and complete, as well as formal obedience, and 
the teacher must not be satisfied with less than this. 

But the highest form of order in the school is that 



WHAT GOOD ORDER IS. 



73 



which is attained through the self-government of the 
pupils. I am not now discussing student government, 
which is another question though not unrelated to this. 
But I am thinking of the usual method of discipline 
administered by the teacher in which, however, the pupils 
rise to a high standard of self-control. The following 
incident illustrates this : A young principal in charge of 
a school of four hundred pupils with eight teachers, could 
only visit the other departments of his school by leaving 
his classes alone. He had charge of a room seating from 
eighty to ninety pupils, but had an assistant, who took her 
classes to a small side-room. One day, after spending a half- 
hour in going the rounds of the other rooms, he came back 
to his room and found a gentleman sitting upon the plat- 
form. The gentleman said to him, " I have found here 
the most remarkable example of good order that I ever 
witnessed. I stepped into this room without warning, and 
found every pupil attending to his own work, quietly and in 
a business-like way. I looked around the room for the 
teacher and was surprised to find the pupils alone. I have 
been sitting here for twenty minutes, and there has not 
occurred a single misdemeanor or act that might not have 
occurred in your presence." I think this illustrates the 
highest ideal of good order. 

The teacher should aim to bring his class up to that 
standard, the standard of self-government, so essential 
particularly for every one who lives in this land of ours. 
The child thus learns to measure his act, not by the 
rules of the school, not by the opinions of the teacher^ 
not by the standards that his comrades set up, though 
all of these are potent factors, but he will measure his 
act by his own standards of right and wrong — the only 



74 



GOOD ORDER IN THE SCHOOL. 



safe guide in life. This is the end toward which all school 
government should aim ; and order in the best sense is 
reached only when this end has been gained, namely, each 
child is a law unto himself, and that law is based on the 
high moral sense which has been implanted in him. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OP SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

The discipline of our schools has undergone a great 
change in the last quarter of a century. Formerly brute 
force behind a hickory stick was the chief element of dis- 
cipline ; but now a much higher motive governs the school- 
room, and the discipline is much better. The teacher must 
direct the will of the child towards right action, and not 
dominate by the force of his own will or by his own superior 
strength. In spite of the harsh measures employed in the 
earlier school, there were more frequent outbreaks, some- 
times amounting almost to riots, than at the present time ; 
and it was not an uncommon thing for a teacher to be 
thrown out of the schoolhouse by the large boys. Although 
there has been this improvement in school discipline, I 
presume that no teacher enters his first school without 
considerable trepidation as to how he is going to succeed 
in the maintenance of order. If the whole matter of dis- 
cipline could be dispensed with, or relegated to some other 
power, the schoolroom would be paradise indeed. But 
unfortunately this cannot be ; and the question, " Can she 
maintain order ? " will ever be an important one to school 
boards and superintendents who are seeking teachers. 

It is with the view of helping young teachers in this 
vital matter that this chapter is written. 

75 



76 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 



Purpose of Discipline In general, there may be said 

to be two ends to be sought in school discipline : (i), to pro- 
tect the rights of each individual child ; and (2), to preserve 
general good order. Each child is entitled to the full 
privileges of the schoolroom, the playground, and all that 
the school offers, without being trespassed upon by any one 
else. He must not be disturbed in his work, nor abused 
in his play, and the teacher must protect him in his in- 
dividual rights. Second, the general order requires that 
nothing shall be allowed that will bring the school into ill- 
repute or prevent the best of work being done. Thus if a 
school is too noisy, either on the playground or in the 
schoolroom, that would be general disorder ; if neighboring 
buildings or fences, or the school building itself, are marked 
with crayon, that is an evidence of disorder ; if shuffling of 
feet, or whispering, or even loud studying, is allowed, so as 
to prevent work or to occasion unfavorable criticism of 
visitors, that is general disorder. I think if the teacher will 
keep these two ends in view, he will find that all discipline 
centers around them. Does this interfere with the rights 
of any individual ? or is that contrary to general good order ? 
are the forms of questions that should frequently be 
answered. 

State Versus School Discipline The object of disci- 
pline with the state is to satisfy justice. The murderer 
expiates his crime by the forfeit of his own life ; the thief 
is sent to prison ; to each crime there is attached a penalty 
corresponding with its enormity ; in a word, the state must 
punish, not only to mete out justice, but also as a warning 
to others. But the school disciplines in order to reform 
the perpetrator, and not to satisfy justice or to serve as a 



METHODS OF SECURING DISCIPLINE. 



77 



warning to others. Doubtless it will serve as a warning, 
but that is not the main purpose in the mind of the 
teacher. It must not be forgotten that the state deals 
with adults, the school with children. Indeed, in dealing 
with children under a certain age, the state attempts to 
act on the principle I have stated, hence the reform 
schools. Possibly more of the reform idea should prevail 
in the dealings of the state with its adult criminals, but 
that is not the question here. The teacher should judge 
each offender on his merits, and not be swerved one iota 
by the thought of the effect upon other pupils. What is 
best for this individual case to deter him from repeating 
the offense, to reform him, is the sole question to consider. 

Methods of Securing Discipline Various methods of 

securing discipline may be employed. The first to be 
resorted to is the rule. Now, some rules are necessary 
whenever a number of persons, young or old, associate 
together in a body. Thus every society, club, or organiza- 
tion has its rules of government. It will be necessary also 
in the school, but rules should not be anticipated. The 
making of an unnecessary rule often suggests mischief 
which would not have been thought of. If an evil appears, 
give warning against it, and if that does not suffice, forbid 
it by a rule. A rule made after fair warning will be easier 
of enforcement than an arbitrary rule, because it will appeal 
to the sense of justice of the children, and will commend 
itself to the majority. When a large part of the school 
is with the teacher, it is easy to carry a point ; but when a 
majority feel that an injustice has been done, and therefore 
array themselves against the authority of the teacher, he 
has a difficult task before him. When convinced that a 



y8 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

rule should be made, let it be clear, explicit, and compre- 
hensive ; let the reasons for it be stated, and then let it be 
firmly administered. When a rule is no longer necessary, 
let it be formally repealed. We have too many dead-letter 
laws on the statute books of our country, which make us as 
a people too often indifferent to law ; the school should 
teach a better lesson than this. 

The second method of securing discipline is an appeal to 
honor. Many children seem to think that appeal to honor 
implies an absence of rules, of effort to detect evil, or of 
the exercise of authority by the teacher. Every citizen 
of the land is put on his honor to obey the laws. No 
policeman is stationed before his door to watch him until 
his actions have been such as to create suspicion. So it is 
in the school : the fact that rules are necessary does not 
mean that there is no appeal to honor. A law against 
crime is no hardship to the honest, law-abiding citizen, 
but it does stand in the way of the criminal. So a rule in 
the school does vitiate the principle of appeal to honor. 

Again, if this principle is in force, it does not prevent 
the using of every effort to detect a wrong. The commu- 
nity at large are not imposed upon if the officers of the law 
employ skill or even strategy in the detection of crime. 
Somehow we seem to have a different code of morals in 
the government of the school and the government of the 
community ; and yet I think the same principles hold 
good in both cases. 

Appeal to honor means to trust pupils just so far as you 
agree to trust them, to keep your word with them im- 
plicitly, to have no secret watch placed over them. It does 
not mean the yielding up of the teacher's authority, nor 
does it imply absolute and unreserved liberty. Thus pupils 



PUNISHMENT. 79 

may be placed on their honor in some things, while in 
others it will be wise for the teacher to judge for them. 
As they grow older, and as they enter more fully into the 
spirit of this mode of discipline, wider interpretation of it 
can be given. I have known schools in which the pupils 
and teachers had come to understand each other so thor- 
oughly after years of acquaintance that but little authority 
was necessary from the teacher, the pupils acting up to a 
high sense of right action. Such a condition is ideal, and 
when reached, the paradise of which I spoke earlier has 
been entered upon and secured. 

Punishment. — The third method of discipline is by 
means of punishment. I have already alluded to the 
former means of maintaining order through fear of punish- 
ment. While this is condemned, no school can wholly 
escape administering punishments of various kinds, no 
more than society can be conducted without penalties for 
wrong-doing. Punishment is to be regarded as a means 
to an end, and not the end itself. Let us study the uses 
of punishment. 

The first principle that I would impress upon the 
teacher is the following : The least punishment that will 
accomplish the desired end is always the right punishment. 
Seneca says, "Who condemns quickly, condemns will- 
ingly ; and who punishes too much, punishes improperly." 
The young teacher is apt to punish according to deserts, 
and not according to the above principle. To illustrate 
the principle, if the child is condemned to a loss of two 
weeks' recess, the teacher should consider whether one 
week will not work the desired reform ; if he has been 
idle, and a task has been given to him to perform as pun- 



80 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

ishment, whether a lighter one may not effect the cure. 
This will enable the teacher to use discretion in adminis- 
tering punishment. A light punishment will suffice in one 
case, whereas a severe one will be needed with another 
child for the same offense. 

A second principle is, Punishment must have in mind 
the needs of the individual rather than aim to serve as an 
example for others. This point has been discussed in the 
comparison of state and school discipline, and therefore 
merely needs mention here. The child is immature and 
irresponsible, and consequently should be treated as an 
individual and not as a member of society. Society, that 
is, the school in this case, will be greatly influenced by 
punishment administered to one of its members, but this 
must not be the motive that guides the teacher. 

Lastly, we repeat Herbert Spencer's celebrated princi- 
ple, that The punishment should be the sequence of the 
offense. Spencer has given a modern setting to what had 
been taught many centuries before. Cicero wrote in favor 
of mild punishment ; Basil the Great taught that if a child 
lies, or uses profanity, give him solitude and fasting; if 
he is greedy, let him stand by and see others eat while he 
remains hungry. Rousseau taught the same idea in his 
"Emile." The application of this principle will be very 
simple, and it will be effective because the offender cannot 
escape associating the punishment with the offense he has 
committed ; and his treatment will not fail to seem rea- 
sonable to him. 

Kinds of Punishment In stating the different kinds 

of punishment, I have in mind a gradation from the sim- 
plest form to the most severe. Not that a child will be 



WITHHOLDING OF CONFIDENCE. 8 I 

put through each of these in succession, for most of the 
children in the school will need little or no punishment ; 
but I mean that in point of severity the order is as given 
below. The punishments, then, may be classified in the 
following order : — 

i. Reproof. — Reproof may be a look or a word, gen- 
eral or individual, private or public. It was a look of the 
Master that broke Peter's heart after the denial. I shall 
never forget the look of reproof a respected lady friend 
gave me when I was a boy. I have forgotten the whip- 
pings I received, but during all these years I have never 
escaped the memory of that lady's disapproval. Words of 
reproof will not be sarcasm, they will not be scolding, they 
will not necessarily be harsh, but will be effective for 
nearly all the punishment that will be needed. 

2. Isolation The child who will not behave himself 

on the playground, or in the schoolroom in company with 
others, must be separated from them. 

3. Withdrawal of Privileges In every school there 

are certain privileges granted to the pupils, such as mov- 
ing freely about the room, going to the waste-basket, con- 
sulting the dictionary, etc. These privileges may be 
withdrawn from a pupil when he abuses them, or as pun- 
ishment for an offense which shows he cannot be trusted. 

4. Withholding of Confidence The most valuable thing 

to the child should be the confidence of his teacher ; and 
when this is withdrawn it should be for some grave 
offense, such as lying, cheating, stealing. If there is the 
close sympathy between teacher and pupil that should 



82 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

exist, this is one of the most serious punishments that can 
be inflicted. It should therefore be used most sparingly. 

5. Consult the Parents 1 do not mean that up to 

this time parents must be left out of account ; they should 
be advised with frequently ; but if all the above forms of 
punishment have failed, and the teacher is about to resort 
to suspension, I think that it is due to the parent to inform 
him of the situation before such extreme action is taken. 
The teacher labors to save the child, and in this desire the 
parent should be found a hearty co-laborer. By the help 
of the parent the reform may be wrought. 

6. Suspension There will come a time in the history 

of every teacher when he must face the question of sus- 
pending an incorrigible pupil. No teacher will gladly 
assume such a responsibility. Suspension may throw the 
boy upon the street, may send him to destruction : it may 
be just what he wants, and therefore be no punishment to 
him. All of these things must be carefully weighed. 
But there are other things also that must be considered. 
What about the other children who are being contaminated 
by a vicious boy ? Have they no rights in the matter ? 
Have parents who have been careful in bringing up their 
children, who have preserved them from vulgarity and 
immoral practice, nothing to say if children of vile and 
impure conduct are permitted to remain in the school? 
We must do all we can to save the bad boy, but we must 
not spoil our good boys or place them in jeopardy from 
the evil life of those who will not be reformed. Hence 
sometimes the teacher owes it to the school to suspend a 
child. 



EXPULSION. 83 

7. Expulsion. — Supension is temporary, expulsion re- 
moves finally from the school ; suspension may be admin- 
istered by the teacher, expulsion generally rests with the 
school board. The teacher may suspend, and ask the 
board to make it expulsion. 

What I have said in regard to suspension applies in 
greater degree to expulsion. Only grave offenses should 
be followed by expulsion, and the state should provide 
reform schools, so that expulsion may not be a mere vaca- 
tion to the child, and so that even incorrigible children 
may not grow up in ignorance. 

8. Corporal Punishment. — In many parts of our 
country corporal punishment has been abolished. It is 
still unforbidden by law in some states, while it is prac- 
ticed sometimes even where the law forbids. For corporal 
punishment — infliction of pain upon the body — means 
more than whipping, or strapping, or feruling. Jerking, or 
making to stand for a long time on the floor, or shaking, are 
forms of corporal punishment which may be far more 
dangerous than the use of the rod, and yet they are all 
practiced. It may seriously be questioned whether greater 
evils have not crept in since legislators have taken a hand 
in school government than existed before. Every teacher 
knows that on some occasions the rod is the most natural, 
and a salutary means of securing obedience. Surely expul- 
sion should not be resorted to until the efficacy of corporal 
punishment has been tried. The use of the rod should be 
exceedingly seldom ; the rod should be applied only after 
repeated warnings both to the child and to his parents ; the 
teacher should be required to report at once to the school 
board the offenses that led to its use, the nature and 



84 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

amount of punishment, and later its effect as to the refor- 
mation of the child. If the teacher is brutal, let him 
answer before a court of justice just as the parent may be 
required to do if he abuses his own child. With these 
safeguards about the use of corporal punishment, I believe 
that many forms of punishment more objectionable now in 
use would be abated, some children who are now lost 
through expulsion would be saved, harsh measures would 
decrease, and the discipline of the school be more whole- 
some. This is not a plea for severer or harsher methods 
of discipline, but a plea for more natural, more humane, 
more salutary, and more effective methods. The use of 
the rod should be exceedingly rare ; but that right should 
still rest with the teacher, and it can rest there with per- 
fect safety to the well-being of the child, for the great 
body of American teachers are not brutal, but they are 
humane, full of sympathy and love for childhood. 

There can be no successful work in the school unless 
good order prevails. Discipline is a means to an end. 
The best discipline has been reached when the pupils have 
learned the difference between right and wrong, and have 
been trained to do the right and refuse to do the wrong, in 
one word, when they have acquired the power of self-control 
and self-government. Especially should this end be 
sought in a country like ours, whose citizens govern them- 
selves. 



CHAPTER X. 

HABIT AS AN END OF SCHOOLWORK. 

" Sow a thought and reap a deed, 
Sow a deed and reap a habit, 
Sow a habit and reap character, 
Sow a character and reap destiny." 

I wonder how fully the teacher enters into the thought 
that education is to transform into habit whatever ought 
to belong to our nature. One may be sure that if that 
end is not in the mind of the teacher there is certainly a 
lack of appreciation of the responsibilities and privileges 
of the teacher's vocation. We cannot agree with Rous- 
seau that " the only habit the child should form is no 
habit at all." At twelve to fourteen years of age the 
habits of the child should practically be established. 

In order to help the teacher to an understanding of the 
importance of fixing proper habits in the pupils, and to 
suggest how this may be done, I propose to give a plain, 
commonplace discussion of the subject. I shall employ no 
technical, psychological terms, and yet I think the presen- 
tation will be psychological. I shall try to call attention 
to matters that would have been a great help to me as a 
young teacher, and that would have given me a truer idea 
of my duty in the education of the child. 

What is a Habit ? — Webster's definition will answer our 
purpose: "The involuntary tendency to perform certain 

§5 



86 HABIT AS AN END OF SCHOOLWORK. 

actions, which is acquired by their frequent repetition.' ' 
Are our pupils forming bad habits ? Let us prevent the 
frequent repetition of the action which forms the habit. 
Are we seeking to establish good habits ? Let us see to 
it that the action which produces that habit is frequently 
repeated. Are we so absorbed in such matters as the 
preparation for examinations, promotion, good order, the 
prevention of whispering, the covering of the topics 
specified in the course of study in the required time, or 
methods of instruction, as to neglect to guard the habits 
which our pupils are forming ? These things are important, 
and the teacher must give them all careful attention ; 
but they must be considered not as an end in themselves, 
but as means to an end, and that end is good character. 
Indeed, every one of these means should be employed 
with the definite purpose of shaping the habits of the 
pupils. 

Let me call attention to a few of the different kinds of 
habits which every teacher will meet in his pupils, and sug- 
gest some measures for their treatment. 

Physical Habits. — Most children enter school with 
some physical habits that should be broken up. It may 
be a shuffling walk, stooping shoulders, lounging posture in 
sitting, and general awkwardness. Who will say that it is 
not a part of education to possess the habit of carrying 
the body with grace and self-control ? Self-control is an 
important end of education, and this applies to the body 
as well as to the mind. The difference between boorish- 
ness and gentility is expressed often by the carriage of 
the body. I once saw a company of recruits mustered into 
the German army in Berlin on the first of October. They 



PHYSICAL HABITS. 



87 



were evidently young men from the farm, the workshop, 
and the pursuits of life which call for manual labor. They 
were crooked and bent from hard toil. A few days later 
at Potsdam I saw them drawn up in line and being put 
through various rudimentary maneuvers by an officer. I 
never saw anything more laughable, — that is, for me, not 
for them. A comic newspaper could not exaggerate their 
grotesque positions. The way they carried their bodies, 
stuck out their chins, missed the step, and lumbered about 
was extremely ridiculous. They were beginning the train- 
ing that was to make them the splendid soldiers of the 
Fatherland. 

About six months later I saw those fellows once again. 
Their bodies were erect and well-poised, their faces were 
more intelligent, and the sharp word of command was heeded 
with alertness. The body was under control ; and with 
that self-control there came a higher intelligence, an 
awakened self-consciousness, a realization of manhood not 
before possessed. Army discipline had broken up old 
habits, and established new ones never to be lost even 
after army life is over. We often look upon the re- 
quirement of three years' army service in Germany as a 
great hardship. Doubtless it often is ; but I undertake to 
say that it is worth all it costs on account of the improve- 
ment in the physical and moral habits of the young men. 
The rigid discipline of the army often establishes good 
habits where evil ones had been acquired. The army is 
thus a great educational factor. It seems to me that here 
is an important lesson for the school. The establishment 
of right physical habits in the child will assist materially in 
the formation of right intellectual and moral habits, just 
as these soldiers come to a higher sense of manhood 



88 HABIT AS AN END OF SCHOOLWORK. 

through the breaking up of bad physical habits and the 
forming of good ones. 

I have hinted at only a few physical habits. The alert 
teacher will discover many. I have in mind a boy about 
ten years old whose walk is like that of a rolling " old 
salt " on land. It is simply a habit. Young girls as they 
approach womanhood often assume a peculiar walk that to 
the uninitiated appears ludicrous. What better lesson can 
the teacher impart to either of these than how to walk 
well ? One other habit which I think is largely physical 
should be mentioned, — that of pitching the voice. Chil- 
dren sometimes get the habit of pitching the voice so high 
that it is simply a squeak, while others take so low a tone 
as to chill to the bone. There is no need of a single per- 
son being burdened through life with either of these 
characteristics if the teacher be faithful in breaking up 
this habit and establishing a right one. The introduction 
of singing into our schools will do much to correct the 
bad pitch of the voice. Music thus becomes not only a 
recreation and a pleasant exercise, but also a most valuable 
means of education. 

Intellectual Habits. — Perhaps less need be said upon 
this than upon either of the other kinds of habits, for our 
schools have given chief attention to intellectual training. 
But I want to direct the thought to a few of these habits, 
such as, — the use of correct language, love of good 
literature, accuracy, memorizing, logical thinking, taste for 
the pure and good. Too much care cannot be given to 
acquiring a correct use of the mother tongue, not only 
in speech but also in composition, not only while under 
the teacher's eye but also as a permanent habit. This is 



LOVE FOR GOOD LITERATURE. 89 

very difficult to do, as the few hours of the school often 
have to counteract the longer period in the home or on 
the street where incorrect forms are constantly encoun- 
tered. As in the case of every other habit, the teacher 
must always insist upon the use of correct forms, and by 
frequent and constant repetition substitute the good habit 
for the bad one. 

Love For Good Literature. — The taste for good litera- 
ture is created by furnishing only that which is good. 
Formerly books were so costly that only a few came into 
the hands of children, and there were but few which were 
suitable for them. The publishers of trashy works were 
first in the field to furnish cheap books, and the country 
was flooded with "dime novels." There is no doubt that 
this literature did incalculable damage in the false lessons 
taught and the vicious taste created. I remember as a boy 
reading the story of " Black Gill, the Robber." The hero 
robbed the rich and was generous to the poor, and this was 
depicted as praiseworthy ; this perverted form of morality 
was painted in such plausible colors that it took years to 
remove the false impression from my boyish mind. For- 
tunately the " children of this world " are no longer in 
this respect "wiser than the children of light ;" and pub- 
lishing houses now furnish wholesome literature, artistically 
arranged and illustrated, from the noblest authors in the 
world, and at remarkably cheap prices. The teacher who 
does not utilize this fact to establish a taste for good 
literature and the habit of reading it, fails to employ one 
of the noblest agencies of modern times to a most impor- 
tant end. Possess the soil with the good seed and there 
is little fear of the bad finding room. Who has not noticed 



90 



HABIT AS AN END OF SCHOOLWORK. 



that in a field growing rank with wheat there are few 
weeds ; but in parts of the field where the good seed has 
failed to grow the weeds spring up and flourish ? This 
teaches an important lesson to those whose duty it is to 
take possession of the child's mind, and furnish it with that 
which is wholesome and good. Accuracy in statement, 
logical thinking, loving the pure and good, are of the utmost 
importance from the intellectual standpoint, but also from 
the moral. Great care must be exercised that these shall 
become a part of the very life of the child, so that he shall 
possess these qualities as a habit and not as a mere impulse. 

Moral Habits. — I have devoted an entire chapter to 
moral instruction, therefore only a few general suggestions 
upon this important topic will be necessary in this connec- 
tion. And yet the subject is of such vital interest that 
we may dwell upon some practical phases of it. I am con- 
vinced that all teachers do not sufficiently appreciate their 
great responsibility in the formation of moral habits. 

"Sow a habit and reap character, sow character and 
reap destiny." I have known teachers to be so absorbed 
in keeping step with the course of study and the daily pro- 
gram as to have no time to devote to moral habits. Indeed, 
I knew one school in New York State in which the princi- 
pal was guilty of fostering dishonesty during examinations 
by his violation of the plainest rules of the Regents. He 
circulated among the pupils while they were at work, call- 
ing attention to errors and suggested corrections, winked 
at cheating, and then made affidavit that he had followed 
the instructions laid down ! I never before saw so low a 
moral tone in a school. To the pupils, lying was a means 
justified by the end, and cheating was a smart practice. 



MORAL HABITS. 



9 1 



This instance was a painful illustration of the evil effects 
of crookedness on the part of the teacher in influencing 
the ideals of a whole school. Truly the example of the 
teacher is a powerful factor in the education of children ! 
The principles that govern a man placed over a school, as 
well as his practices and habits, are a most vital element 
in his work of education. Without good moral habits on 
his part, it is utterly useless for him to seek to form good 
habits in the children. This is the first essential of success, 
and if a man lacks this essential he has no business in the 
schoolroom. 

But this is not all. Besides good habits in the teacher, 
there must be a definite purpose on his part to form good 
habits in his pupils. If pupils lie, it is transcendently 
more important to teach them to tell the truth than to 
teach them to read ; if they steal, it must not be passed 
lightly by ; if they cheat, they must be shown that this is 
merely another form of lying ; if they use bad language, 
the wrong of it must be pointed out ; in a word, all vicious 
and evil habits must be eradicated and good ones implanted 
in their stead. This is the great, the important work of 
education, and the whole purpose of the school must bend 
to this idea, which, in a word, may be expressed as char- 
acter building. 



CHAPTER XL 

REMINISCENCES OF MY FIRST SCHOOL. 

We have seen that there is a vast number of young men 
and women who are introduced each year to the work of 
teaching. They are without experience, and many of them, 
I fear, without much idea of teaching, either theoretically 
or practically. It is with the hope of helping these young 
people, and those who have been in the harness but a 
short time, that I give these reminiscences. No attempt 
will be made to do otherwise than tell the facts as they 
occurred in the simplest manner in order that some practi- 
cal benefit may come to the inexperienced and uninitiated. 

Many of the difficulties that I had to face no longer con- 
front teachers ; but there are still many difficulties, still 
many trials, that are dreadfully real. And normal school 
professors, and critic teachers, and institute conductors, 
and wise ones cannot smooth out all of the wrinkles either. 
Try as we may, anticipate all the tricks we can, fortify 
against probable mischief as best we know how, read all 
the splendid advice of the most experienced old school- 
master who has been through it all, and yet some mis- 
chievous boy will concoct a trick not put down in the 
books and which the pedagogue has not heard of — and 
there you are ! Yes, there are trials still and a plenty of 
them. I hope that recounting my trials may help the 
young teacher to laugh at his and take fresh courage. 

92 



FIRST CERTIFICATE TO TEACH. 



93 



First Certificate to Teach It was a good many years 

ago, when a boy of nineteen, after attending a county 
institute and getting my third-grade certificate, I sallied 
forth one November morning in search of a school. We 
had solemnly voted at the institute (under guidance of the 
" leading teachers " of the county) not to " board around," 
but to demand a salary adequate to enable us to have a 
regular boarding-place. Nevertheless, every mother's son 
of us " took to the woods " bright and early to secure a 
school in which we all just as solemnly contracted to teach 
and "board around." The fact is, we could not help our- 
selves. I believe that this custom has practically dis- 
appeared, but it had not then and we had to submit to it. 
One thing, however, has not improved in these late days. 
In the good old times, it was not a race to see who should 
first catch the new trustee on the morning after the school 
election. " First come, first served" seems now to be the 
theory in many country districts in good old New York 
State. One farmer's wife told me two years ago that 
seven aspirants for a little school a mile up the road had 
passed her house before sunrise the morning after school 
election. That school paid five dollars a week ! I heard 
of one alert damsel who watched at the door to catch the 
new, unsophisticated trustee as he came out of the annual 
meeting fresh with the new honors of sole trusteeship, and 
the bargain was concluded then and there. Many a wide- 
awake school-teacher knows better than the average citizen, 
who is likely to be elected trustee, and therefore lays his 
plans to capture the school even before the school election. 
No, in the good old times the trustee had his eye upon the 
one he wanted, and no one else need apply until this case 
was disposed of. It is a blessed thing to be sought after and 



94 



REMINISCENCES OF MY FIRST SCHOOL. 



not have to get out and compete for the privilege of teach- 
ing a school that pays twenty dollars a month. 

My First School 1 engaged to teach a little village 

school nestled among the hills, a western spur of the Cats- 
kills. I was to get $32 a month, provided I would teach 
alternate Saturdays, and have my board among the people. 
I was hired for sixteen weeks, the winter term. In those 
times men were taken for the winter, and women for the 
summer term. Men teachers were scarce ; and that is the 
only reason for my getting the school, as I was an un- 
known quantity as a teacher, never having taught. I may 
as well be frank, and tell you that my purpose in teaching 
was not "to labor for humanity," "to devote myself for 
the good of my fellow beings," or to sacrifice myself for 
my country in the " elevation of the young and rising gen- 
eration." Not a bit of it. The plain truth is that I had 
borrowed money to go to school, had spent it all for that 
purpose, and now had to cast about for some way of meet- 
ing the obligation soon to come due. That is why I took 
up teaching ; and if the thousands who begin every year 
have no higher motive than that, I cast no stone at them. 
But if they continue with that as the guiding motive, then 
I have most serious objections to offer. Certainly I had 
not been two days in the schoolroom before a proper 
motive came to me, and I felt (if I dare to presume upon 
an illustrious example) like Froebel, "as if my life had at 
last discovered its native element. I felt as happy as the 
fish in the water, the bird in the air." From the outset I 
resolved to devote myself fully to teaching, a purpose from 
which I have never swerved from that time to the present, 
I also resolved to add to that consecration a thorough 



THE FIRST DAY. 95 

preparation and careful study. I may say that this de- 
cision and its prosecution have brought me untold joy in 
all the years that have followed. And so I thank God for 
the inspiration of that first school with its sixty or more 
pupils, with its many classes, with its hard discipline, with 
its scarcity of books and appliances, with its manifold 
duties, with its trials. After all, the mixed country school 
makes history for the young teacher, gives experience, 
creates self-reliance, stimulates originality more rapidly 
than any other place I know of in the universe. And so 
the young teacher who has to begin in such a school may 
remember that it is a grand school of experience. Many 
superintendents recognize this fact, and are therefore on the 
alert to secure teachers from mixed schools who have shown 
marked ability in these positions. 

The First Day. — I began school promptly at nine 
o'clock. I closed it — I do not know what time — when 
I had gotten around with my classes, or when it was dark. 
A bad practice of course, but I am telling what occurred. 
I was thoroughly in earnest and enthusiastic, and my 
pupils were with me. Nobody complained ; indeed, I think 
the farmers, who were accustomed to long hours of labor, 
felt rather pleased that I was putting in longer hours than 
the contract required. I did not do it for popularity, but 
because I loved the work and was anxious to see my 
pupils progress. Right here let me say that I taught the 
best school I knew how to without regard to the pay I was 
to get. In teaching, as in every other calling, the surest 
way to get an advance in salary is to be worth an advance. 
And so I advise every teacher who wants a thousand 
dollar salary to earn that amount, whether he gets it or not. 



g6 REMINISCENCES OF MY FIRST SCHOOL. 

The thousand dollar salary will surely come when the 
teacher has shown that he is worth it. I went out and 
played ball with the boys in the fall, and coasted with 
boys and girls down the steep hills in the winter. I re- 
member that the children often called me by my first 
name, which it never occurred to me to object to. We 
were "hail fellows well met " on the playground, but when 
we entered school I was master again. I am sure that the 
recess experiences only made me stronger in my control of 
the school. Although I had boys and girls older than I 
was, and the attendance reached as high as seventy-five or 
eighty, I had no serious trouble in discipline during the 
winter. 

The county school commissioner visited us ; and he had 
a row with one of the big boys, who resented his domi- 
neering authority in the school, and I dare now confess 
that my sympathies were with the boy. That was the 
only serious trouble during the winter. After examining 
my school he raised my teacher's license from third to 
second grade. 

As to methods of instruction, I don't think there was 
much of any method. But we were all enthusiastic and 
we loved each other, and with these qualities present a 
multitude of pedagogical sins are covered. I know that 
my pupils learned and that their teacher learned. After 
all, is not that evidence of a pretty good school ? But it 
might have been a great deal better. I am writing these 
lines in order that the schools of my young readers may be 
better than mine was. 

Boarding Around 1 had but little opportunity to 

study, as in boarding around it was a part of my duty to 



BOARDING AROUND. 



97 



visit with the family. I was fed with pie, preserves, cake, 
hot biscuits, and all the best things in the house for sup- 
per, pancakes and maple sirup for breakfast, and given 
the spare chamber with the coldest of beds to sleep in. 
There was a great deal of hardship about it all, and yet I 
am sure that I came into closer touch with the parents 
of my pupils than teachers do in these times. I am not 
arguing for a return to the practice of " boarding around," 
but while that experience doubtless cost too much it cer- 
tainly was valuable. 

There are many reminiscences of my experience in 
"boarding around " that rise before me as I write — some 
pleasant, some ludicrous, some sad, and some unpleasant. 
The first night I spent at the home of the trustee, with 
whose family I was well acquainted. Before supper my 
host took me into a back room, and showed me a wash- 
boiler well filled with souse. " There," said he, " you can 
see what you've got to come to." I never forgot my 
introduction to the time-honored custom of " boarding 
around." Nor shall I forget my second night. It was 
dark when school was out and all the pupils were gone. 
No one had asked me to go home with him, and I was 
. certainly at loss where to go, even though I had a sort of 
claim on the whole district for my board. After consider- 
ing the matter for a time, I concluded that the village 
storekeeper's family would be as likely to be prepared to 
receive me as any one. They could draw upon the store 
for supplies, — for I was very hungry. Accordingly, I 
went to the store and sat down, like a green country boy, 
instead of going directly to the house as I should have 
done. I visited with the old storekeeper, who, by the way, 
had been an old bachelor until a few years before, when 



98 REMINISCENCES OF MY FIRST SCHOOL. 

he married a widow. After a while he addressed me with, 
"Be you going to stay with us to-night?" I confessed 
that such was my design. After some delay he said, 
" Well, we've had our supper, and I don't know as there is 
anything more to eat." Rather a doubtful prospect for a 
hungry young schoolmaster, but I maintained a discreet 
silence and hung on. At last he went into the house and 
returned in a few minutes with the remark, " I guess we'll 
manage somehow ; you can go in." I went in, and was 
treated by the wife with greatest cordiality and hospitality. 
I shall never forget the experiences of that first winter, 
nor shall I cease to be thankful for those experiences, hard 
though they were. I gained a larger conception of life in 
general and of the teacher's calling in particular. During 
that first term an inspiration came to me that teaching is 
the grandest of all vocations, and the opportunities which it 
offers for doing good to one's fellow-men are unequaled by 
any other calling. And the same thought remains with me 
to this day. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT AMONG TEACHERS. 

When teachers were selected in Prussia from any avail- 
able class, such as disabled soldiers, students who had been 
expelled from the university, or persons not accounted good 
for anything else, or when in our own country the principal 
qualification was ability to flog the big boys, one had no 
need to discuss the above question. But the conditions 
have changed not only in Prussia, where the highest degree 
of professional spirit has been attained, but also in our 
own country. Normal schools, colleges, teachers' summer 
schools, teachers' institutes, correspondence bureaus, and a 
wide pedagogical literature have served to establish teach- 
ing on a professional basis that is both gratifying and full 
of promise for the future. 

Teaching a Profession. — While teaching is not so thor- 
oughly established a profession as the law, medicine, or 
theology, it must be recognized that great progress has been 
made in the last hundred years, especially in the last twenty- 
five. Nor must it be forgotten that the above mentioned 
professions have had a start of several centuries in which 
they have been recognized by statute and by common 
consent. Not so with teaching. While there have been 
schools and teachers for thousands of years, the work of 
teaching has been a make-shift to which any one might 
turn, as we have already seen. Still, I think the time has 
L.ofC. 99 



IOO PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT AMONG TEACHERS. 

come when teaching - may properly be called a profession. 
The state recognizes law, and medicine, and dentistry, and 
engineering as professions, by fixing the qualifications of 
candidates who seek the right to practice in either. By the 
same token, the state recognizes the professional character 
of teaching by allowing no one to teach without proper 
license. Until the state assumed the right and duty of 
educating her youth, there was no official recognition of 
teaching as a profession. Three things are essential to a 
state system of education : first, there must be proper 
supervision ; second, there must be proper support ; and 
third, there must be legally qualified teachers. All of these 
conditions are now met in our own country and in many 
others, therefore the primary essentials for a teaching pro- 
fession have been met. 

Lack of Professional Spirit among Teachers. — It can 

hardly be claimed, however, that teachers possess the pro- 
fessional spirit which characterizes other occupations. It is 
very seldom that one hears a doctor speak disparagingly of 
a fellow practitioner. Indeed, no first-class physician will 
take a case that is still in the hands of another physician 
without being called in consultation by the latter. And this 
professional spirit even goes so far as to make it almost im- 
possible to get one physician to testify against the practice 
of another, even though called upon to do so in a court of 
justice. While this may be an over-strained sense of pro- 
fessional etiquette in some cases, one can but admire the 
loyalty to his medical brethren thus shown. The same spirit 
is shown in the legal and other professions. Teachers 
might well learn a lesson from these examples, and therefore 
I desire to call attention to some phases of this question. 



SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE. IOI 

Support Educational Literature. — The teacher should 
show a professional spirit by his support of the current 
periodicals a7id tJie standard literature of his profession. I 
do not discuss this question from the standpoint of his own 
progress and his own good. This should be too apparent 
to need serious discussion. It is not my theme now. 
When I step into a lawyer's office and find his shelves 
filled with professional books, and his table laden with law 
reports, I cannot help having an increased respect for the 
lawyer. If I am admitted to my pastor's study and find a 
well selected and extensive library, a feeling of satisfaction 
comes over me in the thought that he who ministers to my 
spiritual wants, recognizes also that I have intellectual needs, 
and consequently he has provided himself with the books 
with which he may prepare himself to meet those needs. 
So, too, the teacher who surrounds himself in his study with 
these necessary instruments of his professional advance- 
ment, commands respect thereby. He owes a duty to 
those who have made special books for teachers, and to 
those who publish educational journals. The better support 
given to these enterprises the more they give back in return. 
Publishing educational literature in this country is still in 
the pioneer stage. Authors, editors, and publishers are 
not getting rich out of these ventures, and will not until 
there is a far greater disposition than now exists on the 
part of the great body of teachers to support them. Better 
support means better books and better papers. There has 
been a great improvement in late years in this direction, 
and that is why we already have such excellent works. A 
proper professional spirit among teachers would call for 
such support of these interests as would cause a mighty ad- 
vancement all along the line of educational literature. 



IO!2 PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT AMONG TEACHERS. 

Does not Undermine Fellow-Teachers. — The teacher 
shows a professional spirit by never undermining a fellow- 
teacher. Once more, other professions give us a splendid 
example in this regard. There are various ways in which 
one can undermine another. One may take a lower 
salary than an incumbent receives and than the community 
is abundantly able to pay. A young teacher, who had 
formerly been my pupil, came to me once for advice in 
regard to taking a neighboring school. " Why," said I, 
" Mr. P. has been engaged for that school for another 
year." He replied, "Yes, P. was engaged, but there was 
no written contract, and the trustee (a sole trustee) is not 
bound by law to keep the contract." " But I personally 
know that the contract was made in good faith between P. 
and the trustee, and that P. fully expects to have the 
school next year. I certainly hope that you will not be a 
party to the breaking of that contract," said I, with a good 
deal of earnestness. " What salary are you offered ? " I 
asked. " Four hundred and fifty dollars," was his answer. 
" But the position has paid eight hundred for years, and 
there is not the slightest reason for that district to pay 
less, and you propose to take it for about half that sum. 
Don't you do it, my young friend," I appealed. "Don't 
do it for your sake and for the sake of our profession." I 
need not further repeat the conversation. I tried to show 
the young man that it was a mean thing to do, that it was 
underhanded, that such action could not prosper, but all of 
no avail. He took the position and utterly failed. They 
turned him out of the school after four or five months, and 
what had seemed a very promising career as a teacher 
ended with that school. I cannot but rejoice that a man 
who would consent to be benefited at the expense of 



DOES NOT UNDERMINE FELLOW-TEACHERS. 



IO3 



another was thus early debarred from the duty of shaping 
the lives of the young. Of course, I do not say that no 
teacher should take a position at a smaller salary than may 
have been paid at some time in a given district ; but I do 
say that no teacher possessing the right professional spirit 
would ever consent to be a candidate for a place not 
vacant or where it has not been fully decided by the 
board that a change is to be made. 

It makes one feel that we are gaining in professional 
spirit in this direction when one notes the events which 
have lately occurred. Very recently the superintendent 
of a city in New Jersey was invited to become the head of 
the schools of an important city in Ohio. He visited the 
city, found that there was a valid contract with the 
incumbent, and said substantially to the board of educa- 
tion, "Gentlemen, you are under obligations to your 
present superintendent, my services are not at your com- 
mand," and turned his back upon them. It will be a glad 
day for our profession when this spirit pervades the rank 
and file of teachers. It will be of interest to know that 
others have appreciated the character of this man, and he 
has been called to and has accepted one of the most 
important positions in the United States. It pays in the 
long run to recognize this spirit for which I am pleading. 
It will ultimately advance the salaries, increase the useful- 
ness, command greater respect, and cultivate a fraternal 
feeling among teachers. 

One more illustration of this phase of professional spirit. 
Some years ago I was principal of a school in central New 
York, and had decided to go to another field at end of the 
year. One day a gentleman who had been for many years 
at the head of a well-known private school in that section 



io4 



PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT AMONG TEACHERS. 



of the state visited me and asked, "Is it true that you 
expect to retire from this school at the end of the year ? " 
I told him it was. " Is there anything in the way of my 
trying for the position ? " he asked. I replied that I 
knew of none. Now this man was only a casual acquaint- 
ance, but I never forgot his courtesy — the courtesy due 
from one teacher to another, and I marked him ever after 
as a true Christian gentleman. He would not approach the 
board of education until he had assured himself that I was 
not a candidate. If boards always had such men to deal 
with there would not be the unseemly scramble for posi- 
tions that we often witness, and greater permanence, 
greater efficiency, and greater respect for teachers would 
result. 

Sustain Teachers' Organizations There should be a 

professional spirit with reference to teachers' organizations. 
It is a good thing for teachers to get together to discuss 
the vital questions connected with their work. I mean 
the voluntary association, such as the local, county, state, 
or national association. In these meetings the teacher 
comes to feel that he is one of a great body, with common 
interests, common aims, common trials, common triumphs. 
The teacher who does not ally himself to such an organiza- 
tion is apt to isolate himself from broadening influences 
and to make his own work and his own school his world. 
He who does not look out far beyond his own horizon is 
sure to grow narrower in vision and more limited in 
usefulness. There is nothing that can compensate for 
the teachers' meetings. The tendency of the schoolroom 
is to narrow the teacher. He is constantly appealing to 
minds below his in training, his word is lav/, his opinions 



RESULTS TO BE ATTAINED. 



I0 5 



unquestioned. But in the teachers' assemblies he meets 
his equals and his betters, and there his self-conceit may 
be taken out of him. The soundness of his opinions is 
tested and the correctness of his methods proved. In 
a word, he measures himself and his work by broader 
standards, and corrects the personal defects which confine- 
ment to his own schoolroom are sure to foster. Here he 
gets enlarged views of education, he comes to view the 
whole field rather than merely his own work. This gives 
him a professional standing and leads to the establishment 
of a professional spirit. 

Results to be Attained A proper professional spirit 

among teachers will enhance their power in the community, 
deepen the respect of men for their calling, secure material 
advantage by increasing salaries and lengthening the term 
of service, assist in establishing teaching on a sound basis, 
encourage the building up of our pedagogical literature, 
and foster a strong fraternal bond. This will attract to 
teaching many who now hesitate to enter upon it because 
of the uncertainties connected with it. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 

Every teacher of experience has employed various 
incentives to stimulate the pupils to work. We know 
that the Jesuits, who were remarkable as teachers, and 
who conducted the most successful schools of the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, used emulation as a 
means of fostering diligence and producing good con- 
duct. I think, however, that their success was due 
to their trained teachers, their compact organization, and 
their singleness of purpose, more than to their use of 
emulation. They excited rivalry between individual pupils 
and between classes. They set one pupil to watch another 
and rewarded the discoverer of a wrong, says Compayre, 
"not only for his own good conduct, but for the bad con- 
duct of his comrades if he informed against them." 
Prizes, rewards, decorations, and privileges were offered 
as means of securing desired ends. This was an appeal 
to selfishness, to base motives, and did not provoke gener- 
ous rivalry. 

One of the important advantages of the school, where 
each class contains a number of pupils, over private instruc- 
tion, arises from the incitement given the child by contact 
with others of its own age. The spirit of rivalry is a nat- 
ural instinct with children. In their games they try to 
surpass their comrades, they exert themselves to "get 

1 06 



MARKING. IO7 

above " in class, they try to equal or excel in all their ac- 
tivities. This principle of rivalry does not cease with 
childhood. The merchant is incited to a better display of 
his goods because a rival beautifully decorates a window ; 
the farmer loves to finish his harvesting before his neigh- 
bor does, and has a just pride in having the finest field of 
corn in the country ; the housewife rejoices to get her 
washing on the line on Monday morning before her neigh- 
bors ; the capitalist seeks to increase his wealth in order 
to keep apace with others who have increased theirs. I 
would not give much for boy or man who is destitute of 
this spirit of rivalry. It raises him above the tramp and 
the savage, and is the greatest incentive to progress, mate- 
rial or intellectual. 

The question, then, is how properly to employ in the 
schoolroom this natural tendency. I shall try to show the 
use of marking, class-rank, prizes, and rewards of merit, as 
incentives to the child. 

Marking. — There is no doubt that a judicious use of a 
marking system may be made a proper incentive to school 
work. But it must not be a rigid system. I have known 
teachers to put down a mark after each child has recited, 
sometimes with ostentation so as to make the matter im- 
pressive. I have even seen teachers mark pupils a zero 
with a savage satisfaction that was apparent to the poor 
victim. As though the object of the recitation is to dis- 
cover what the child does not know ! The recitation must 
arouse the very best effort ; it must bring up all the 
knowledge that the child possesses ; it must encourage 
and show him his weaknesses, not by enlarging upon his 
failures, but by holding before him that which he should 



Iq8 SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 

know. Of course, what he does not know will appear, but 
that must not be the object sought for. The sympathetic 
teacher rejoices with the pupil who succeeds, and mourns 
with the one who fails. 

When the teacher marks a recitation at once, an injus- 
tice may be done, as even the child who is well prepared 
may meet a stumbling-block in almost every lesson ; on 
the other hand, the child who has not been faithful in 
preparation may get a question that he can answer. Thus the 
one who has been faithful gets a zero, and the other a ten. 
In both cases the interest in the lesson ceases as soon as 
the pupil recites, for to him the object of the recitation is 
the mark, and that has been secured. I want every pupil 
in my classes to feel that interest is to be maintained till 
the close of the recitation, and that there is ever an oppor- 
tunity to redeem himself even if he has failed to answer a 
question. When the pupil has a deeper interest in getting a 
ten, or a six, or a zero than in the subject of the lesson the 
teacher may be sure that the system of marking is wrong. 

There is another evil connected with a rigid scheme of 
marking, and that is the making out of reports based upon 
the mathematical data of the class-records. Every teacher 
who has gone through this experience knows what an 
awful burden it becomes, how much time it consumes, 
how much strength it demands. For such exactness in 
marking implies mathematical exactness in footing up the 
account and in the expression of the results in percent- 
ages. Here, again, an unhealthy feeling is engendered 
because the pupil will look forward to his proficiency 
being indicated by 90, 93, or 95, which may be com- 
pared with the 89, 94, or 96 of other pupils. I went 
through this whole process in my earlier years of teach- 



MARKING. 



IO9 



ing, and I want to confess to the young teacher who 
reads these lines that I recall no mistake that cost me 
so much useless labor, that was so utterly valueless, and 
that secured results from so wrong a motive. 

Let me briefly outline what I consider a proper use of 
marking. The purpose of marking, and the whole purpose 
is to assist the teacher's memory. Hence, when a striking 
failure is made I would simply jot down the pupil's name 
on a piece of paper, not in my roll-book. I would let the 
pupils understand that there is an open chance for redeem- 
ing themselves as long as the recitation lasts, and that I 
make my final estimate of their work at the close of the 
recitation. This will encourage those who have really 
prepared themselves, and yet have failed on some point, 
to be alert and attentive. Thus instead of discouraging, it 
often acts as an encouragement. It will serve to hold the 
attention of the whole class till the end. At the close of 
the recitation, I would enter such records as the whole re- 
sult warrants, never entering marks for satisfactory work. 

The teacher following this plan will be surprised at 
the fewness of entries that need be made, for the most 
of the class will do satisfactory work, else there is 
something wrong either with the instruction or with the 
kind of material given. Thus only a moment or two 
will be required to make the entries after the class is 
dismissed, and during the recitation the whole attention 
of both teacher and class may be devoted to the lesson. 
Such employment of marks will act as a healthful stimulus 
upon the pupils, will not be a burden to the teacher, and 
will answer every purpose. It will furnish all the record 
necessary to assist the teacher's memory when the ques- 
tion of promotion arises ; and, at the same time, it will 



HO SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 

place emphasis upon the teaching of the subject rather 
than upon the mark given. 

Class Rank 1 once saw a newspaper item concerning 

a gentleman which read as follows : " He graduated at 
Heidelberg University at the head of a class of sixty- 
four." Now, as the German universities have no " classes," 
every man working on individual lines, and taking his 
examinations alone when he is ready for them, the igno- 
rance of the writer becomes apparent. Many of our own 
higher institutions of learning have ceased to rank their 
graduates, merely indicating a few " honor " men. It has 
long since been discovered that class ranking acts as an 
incentive to only a few who are near the top. It has also 
been discovered that many men great in after life were 
nowhere near the head of the list when they graduated 
from college. 

The ambition of the millionaire's sons who ranked 148 
and 149 in a school of 149 pupils evidently was not 
aroused by the class ranking system. The instinct of 
rivalry to which I alluded earlier may be employed in a 
healthful manner in the school by inciting the pupil to 
excel his comrades. Let him rub up against his fellows in 
school just as he must rub up against men in business and 
in the activities of life. Such treatment will prepare him 
for life, make him self-reliant and aggressive. But do not 
let the class rank become a motive of work. It arouses 
jealousies, creates a bad feeling, awakens suspicion of 
unfairness on the teacher's part, necessitates a close daily 
marking, which has already been condemned, and centers 
the attention, not upon the subject matter, but upon the 
unnatural rivalry that has been promoted. 



REWARDS OF MERIT. I I I 

Prizes Shall prizes be offered as an incentive to 

school work ? I think not ; certainly not by the teacher. 
They create jealousies, reach only a few, offer a tempta- 
tion to unfair dealing and cheating, reward ability and not 
merit, and encourage a wrong motive for study. External 
influences sometimes enter to give some pupils an unfair 
advantage, — such as intelligent parents who can help their 
children, freedom from outside duties, uninterfered atten- 
dance, etc. Many a child is debarred from successful com- 
petition by conditions which he cannot overcome. Prizes 
thus exert an unhealthful influence upon a school. 

There is less objection to prizes offered by outside 
parties. If they can be given for merit, the determination 
of the successful candidate to be made also by outside 
parties, they may not be objectionable. I have known, for 
example, prizes to be offered for essays on the above con- 
ditions, and the evils mentioned have been eliminated. It 
is very difficult, however, to convince the friends of an 
unsuccessful contestant that there has been fair play, no 
matter what the method of deciding may be. Even these 
contests, however, should be carefully guarded, the whole 
stress being laid upon progress or merit and not on ability. 
The teacher who keeps up the interest in his school by 
means of prizes is making use of an unnatural and un- 
healthful incitement, one that is dangerous in its effect 
and difficult of application. 

Rewards of Merit Little children are fond of re- 
ceiving cards with their names written upon them, indi- 
cating that their conduct has been good or that they have 
been diligent in study. I have before me a card with 
several pictures upon it which was presented to me by a 



112 SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 

teacher when I was about four years of age. There is 
nothing of artistic merit in this oblong piece of paper, 
and yet it would take a pretty large bank-note to buy it. 

I remember that teacher most vividly, though she 
taught our school only one term. Rewards of merit can 
be given to all children at little expense ; they are given 
solely upon the judgment of the teacher, no unhealthy 
rivalry is provoked, and therefore there seems to be no 
harm in employing them. They can be given for regu- 
larity of attendance, for good conduct, and for other things 
in which all have equal opportunity of winning. Of course 
they are of no use with older children. 

The Highest Incentive The right incentive must 

be found in the love for the work itself. There was an 
incident in connection with my summer trip with a Ger- 
man school, which I have described in another chapter 
(Chap. XV.), that illustrates this point. I spoke of the 
teachers' meeting held every night after the boys had 
retired. At the last of these meetings I offered three 
prizes, one of five marks, one of three, and one of two, to 
be given at the close of the year to the boys who should 
write the best account of the trip. My offer was received 
politely, and yet I thought with some reserve. At the 
close of the meeting I approached the principal, and asked 
him to tell me frankly how my offer was viewed. 

"Well," said he, "the fact is we cannot accept your 
offer, it would be so contrary to all our pedagogical theory 
and practice. Now these boys are poor, and if I were to 
announce your offer there is no doubt that it would incite 
most earnest rivalry among them for the whole year. 
Some of them have never in their life possessed so large 



THE HIGHEST INCENTIVE. I 13 

a sum of money as you offer, and it would awaken keenest 
exertion among them to win this money. But I cannot 
allow it. My boys must not have an outside stimulus for 
work ; they must find their interest in the subject matter 
itself. It is my duty as their teacher to discover in each 
lesson and each subject that which shall awaken and hold 
their interest." 

Need I say that I never had a more important lesson 
taught me in genuine pedagogy ? The real incentive for 
study must be discovered in the material presented to the 
children and not depend upon external or factitious inter- 
est. All other incentives are superficial and will lead only 
to superficial results. The earnest teacher will be able 
to discover in every subject sufficient motive for study, 
so that there will be no need of these extraneous helps. 

If, then, the above incentives, or others, should be em- 
ployed it should be only as a temporary expedient until 
the wholesome, the genuine interest has been excited. 
The child loves to learn concerning things about which his 
interest has been awakened, and the teacher should have 
no trouble in securing interest in every subject of the 
school course. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PRACTICAL CORRELATION FOR PRACTICAL TEACHERS. 

There is no doubt that the discussion of the " Correla- 
tion of Studies" which the Herbartian school has started 
in this country has done a great deal of good. It has 
excited educational thought, shaped courses of study, 
established educational theory, and led to a closer harmony 
between the various subjects of the curriculum. Probably 
the most noted contribution on correlation is that of the 
Committee of Fifteen, which was discussed at the mid- 
winter meeting of the National Educational Association in 
February, 1895. It may be profitable to recall briefly a 
few of the important points of this remarkable report ; 
there is danger of letting its important lessons slip away 
from us. The Committee of Fifteen interprets correlation 
of studies to mean : 

1. Logical order of topics and branches. I take this to 
mean that the fundamental rules of arithmetic precede 
fractions and compound numbers; decimals precede per- 
centage; that arithmetic comes before algebra, and lan- 
guage lessons and grammar before rhetoric. Of course 
this is too simple and self-evident to need discussion. 

2. Symmetrical whole of studies in the world of human 
learning. All the great divisions of human learning 
are to be represented in the course of study "as far 
as possible at the stage of maturity at which the pupil 
has arrived." What subjects are necessary to represent 

114 



PRACTICAL CORRELATION. I I 5 

the "great divisions of human learning" is a matter of 
diverse opinions. The before mentioned committee names 
language studies, arithmetic, geography, history, and other 
branches (under wAich are included natural science, vocal 
music, manual training, drawing, etc.). Dr. Charles A. 
McMurry places history first, then the natural sciences, 
and finally the formal studies. Under the term " history," 
he includes reading as to subject matter, history, story 
and other parts of literature; by the "formal studies" 
he means "grammar, writing, much of arithmetic, and the 
symbols used in reading." In a word, Dr. Harris thinks 
that five studies are necessary to secure the " symmetrical 
whole of studies," while Dr. McMurry classifies the whole 
under three heads, of which history and the natural 
sciences include the most essential elements. Dr. Butler 
classifies the subjects necessary for this symmetrical whole 
as follows : science, literature, aesthetics, institutional and 
religious. 

3. Psychological symmetry — the whole mind. There 
must be no one-sided development of the mind. To illus- 
trate : Instruction that simply develops the memory, as 
with the Chinese ; or the reason, as with the Scholastics ; 
or the sense-perception, as with the Persians, does not 
produce the " psychological symmetry " required. All the 
powers of the mind must be harmoniously developed so 
that there shall be perfect mental balance. 

4. Correlation of pupil's course of study with the world 
in which he lives — his spiritual and natural environme7it. 
The child is to be prepared for life, and the course of 
study must not lose sight of this. In the home, in 
the school, and after he leaves school, the habits, customs, 
and duties required by the civilization into which he is 



Il6 PRACTICAL CORRELATION. 

born, are to be taught him. The course of study must 
furnish the material for training the child in his social, 
political, and religious duties so that he will fit into his 
environment. 

This, in brief, is the theoretical side of correlation. 
No doubt many teachers and educational thinkers have 
been greatly helped by it ; superintendents and principals 
have shaped their courses of study more intelligently ; the 
subjects taught in many schools are not so independent of 
each other, and there is a sincere effort more closely to 
relate the different branches of school work. Great good 
has therefore been done and there is promise of still 
greater good. 

Practical Correlation. — There is another side to this 
question, or if not another side, a more practical application 
that I would like to bring to my readers. I fear that many 
teachers who have heard and read of correlation have said 
to themselves, "O, well, there may be something in 
this for the city school-teacher, or for those high in the 
profession, but I see nothing in it for me. I think I 
will stick to the good old way." Now, I have a great 
deal of respect for the old way, and shall not abandon it 
until something better is offered. Correlation offers 
something better, and something, too, that can be applied 
by the teacher in the mixed country school as truly as in 
the graded school. It is my office here to try to show 
how this can be done. 

Let me illustrate my meaning by a bit of personal 
experience. I remember as a boy the intense interest 
I found in reading "The Escape from the Panther" in the 
school reading-book. It never occurred to me that this 



PRACTICAL CORRELATION. 1 1 7 

was other than some story that had been written for that 
book, and it never occurred to my teacher to tell me any- 
thing else. Not until years afterward, when reading " The 
Pioneers," I ran upon the story and found that it was 
but an incident of a greater story. And yet the author, 
j. Fenimore Cooper, had lived for years at Cooperstown, 
N. Y., less than twenty-five miles from the very spot 
where stood the little old red schoolhouse in which I 
learned my a, b, c's, and where I read the thrilling story. 
Not one word was told me of this man, whose fame had 
reached many lands, and whose stories had been trans- 
lated into many tongues. What an opportunity for sen- 
sible and practical correlation ! 

Why couldn't my teachers have told me that this was 
a part of a great story, that Cooper had lived at Coopers- 
town which was named after him, and had died there only 
a few years before ? Ah ! I can forgive them the floggings 
they gave me, — and I had my share, — but I cannot forgive 
them for robbing me of the riches of literature to which 
it would have been so easy to introduce me. If they had 
simply said, "The rest of this story you will find in 'The 
Pioneers/ " and told us something about Cooper, how easy 
it would have been for us to go out in spirit from the 
prosy schoolroom and its unnatural life to the real, living, 
throbbing world outside and become acquainted with our 
environment. Moreover, we would have searched the 
school library for the book ; and if a little attention had 
been given to the selection of pieces that led to books that 
could be had, the district library would have been a power- 
ful adjunct to the school and its work, instead of an utterly 
useless educational instrument, whose books were unsuit- 
able for children, if not wholly beyond their reach. 



1 1 S PRACTICAL CORRELATION. 

Take another simple illustration. Nearly every reading- 
book contains the story of " Robert Bruce and the Spider." 
Application of the same principle before mentioned can 
easily be made here. What a splendid opportunity to in- 
troduce Sir Walter Scott ! Every child would be eager 
to read his stories, and thus get acquainted with Scottish 
history. Would there be any trouble in interesting a class 
also in the geography of Scotland ? Or would it be far- 
fetched to introduce natural history in connection with the 
spider in the story ? How easy to lead the children to ob- 
servation of the habits of that curious arachnid, as well as 
of other interesting living things about them. 

Again, they would be asked to write about what they 
had learned, and composition-writing would become an 
interesting and profitable exercise. Children love to tell 
with pen and ink if they only know something to tell. 
The only reason that compositions are a bugbear is that 
children are asked to write when they have nothing to 
write. Fill them with an interesting theme and then ask 
them to write what they know, and the composition will 
come as naturally as talking. It is only another way of 
telling. And in this connection penmanship and spelling 
are taught perfectly naturally and efficiently. 

Finally, moral lessons will be discovered. The justice 
of Bruce's cause, his persistency, his discouragements, his 
final success, and the triumph of the right, furnish ample 
material for the inculcation of the best moral lessons in the 
lives and consciences of the children. And so out of this 
single story we have a perfectly natural correlation of read- 
ing, literature, history, geography, natural history, composi- 
tion, penmanship, spelling, and moral precept. There is 
not a single lesson suggested that can well be omitted. And 



CORRELATION IN HISTORY. 1 19 

what is true of this story is equally true of many of the 
fine pieces of literature that our reading-books now furnish. 
How many teachers fail to get all of this out of the read- 
ing-lesson. And yet there is not a suggestion in the 
above that is beyond the capacity of every district school 
teacher, however young and inexperienced he may be. 
Nor is there a stretch of imagination in thus bringing this 
material together and using it. It all follows with perfect 
naturalness ; indeed, it is the old practice that was unnat- 
ural rather than this. 

Correlation in History This is only one of the fields 

where correlation suggests rich improvement in our 
methods. A young friend wrote me not long since con- 
cerning the study of history : " A boy learns from his 
study of Persian history that Darius fell at Arbela and the 
Persian power was crushed. He may also remember from 
his study of Greece that Alexander won a victory at 
Arbela in 331 B.C., but it never occurs to him that Darius 
and Alexander were in one and the same battle.'' 

How can a proper understanding of our own early 
history be obtained without a study of the history of Spain, 
Holland, England, and France ? The different motives of 
settlement and colonization can be appreciated only by a 
study of the conditions that existed in Europe ; and why 
France, was our friend in the Revolution will be found to 
have been not from purely humanitarian impulses, but 
because it furnished a means of harassing her "ancient 
enemy." 

Another personal experience may assist in making my 
meaning clear. I learned in geography that " a hill is a 
small elevation of land," and "a mountain is a vast eleva- 



120 PRACTICAL CORRELATION. 

tion of land." And yet the " hill " that I had to climb 
twice a day in taking the cows to pasture and bringing 
them home was to my mind a " vast elevation." It was not 
shown to me that such terms are relative, and that what we 
called a " hill " might sometimes well be called mountain. 
I learned, too, that " A river is a stream of water flowing 
through the land." Now, I had to cross two miniature rivers 
every time I went to school. There was not the slightest 
effort on the part of my teachers to correlate these facts, 
which lay at the very door of the schoolhouse, with the 
definitions and theories of the books. And yet what an 
opportunity for practical correlation ! 

Does not correlation in this sense offer material that is 
quite within the reach of every teacher ? If the young 
teacher finds something in this discussion that sets him 
thoughtfully to find a more complete unification of his 
school-work, so that each subject shall sustain, ally, and 
strengthen every other subject in the school course, he 
will have reached the best correlation possible. 

In the next chapter I shall discuss " A Summer Trip 
with a German School," and in it the reader will find a 
most perfect example of correlation. 



CHAPTER XV. 

A SUMMER TRIP WITH A GERMAN SCHOOL. 

One of the pleasant est pedagogical experiences I ever 
had, one most fruitful and suggestive, and one that made 
a lasting impression, was a trip through the beautiful 
Thuringian forest with a German school. The impressions 
are still so vivid that I have no need to refer to notes to 
refresh the memory, though it took place more than a 
dozen years ago. It was the latter part of July, when the 
summer vacation had begun, that a party of about seventy- 
five, fifty boys and twenty-five professors, teachers, and 
students belonging to Stoy's seminary at Jena, started out 
bright and early upon a seven days' trip. The boys were 
from the two highest classes of Stoy's school and were 
from twelve to fourteen years of age. Each boy was pro- 
vided with his school knapsack, in which were an extra 
suit of light clothing, a few toilet articles, an extra shirt, 
and lunch for the first day. Headed by a band of music 
consisting of drums, fifes, and brass instruments manipu- 
lated entirely by the boys, with banners flying, we marched 
through the streets to the station, carrying with us the 
" Gluckliche Reise" " Viel Vergniigen" and " Aufwieder- 
sehen" of the admiring parents and friends who lined the 
sidewalks. The sole -attempt at uniforms was the school 
cap, which all the boys wore. During the preceding year 
the teachers had collected from $150 to $175 to cover the 



122 A SUMMER TRIP WITH A GERMAN SCHOOL. 

expense. To this fund the teachers and friends of the 
school and the government at Weimar had contributed. 
The route had been carefully outlined beforehand, sleep- 
ing accommodations engaged, and meals provided at the 
various points to be touched. The pupils themselves 
had also been prepared by some preliminary study of the 
ground. 

The Thiiringian Forest. — A word in regard to Thii- 
ringia, the section to be traversed, may not be out of place. 
Our American geographies scarcely mention this part of 
Germany ; and yet it is one of the most beautiful, best 
known, most frequently visited, and most loved of all parts 
of the German empire. It lies chiefly in the province of 
Saxe- Weimar, is about twenty-five miles long by twenty 
broad, and almost entirely covered with forests of pine, 
spruce, fir, beech, birch, etc. The government carefully 
preserves these forests, cuts roads and footpaths through 
them, and intelligently protects the wild game and fish. 
Foresters, educated at the School of Forestry in Eisenach, 
are placed in charge of this great tract to enforce the law, 
remove the dead trees and underbrush, and plant new 
trees, study the insect life to prevent destruction, and act 
as game-keepers and guardians of these beneficent gifts of 
nature. It is the most beautiful and best kept forest I 
ever saw. Besides the government care, there is a great 
association of citizens whose members are found in every 
city and village of the section, whose duty it is to assist in 
providing means for the protection and preservation of the 
beautiful land which God has given them and also to exer- 
cise an oversight of those who have charge of this noble 
forest. Our government could learn some valuable les- 



THE TRIP. 12^ 

sons from them in the preservation of our great forests. 
Indeed, we are beginning to appreciate the value of for- 
ests, not only for their timber and wood, but as a great 
climatic influence. Nevertheless, we have still much to 
learn as to the preservation of our forests. 

Villages and little cities nestle in the valleys, beautiful 
streams wind their way around the hills and begin their 
journey to the sea, and in the midst of these forests are 
found some of the most charming watering-places in all 
Europe. The section is rich in historic interest. It is 
probable that Charlemagne visited it more than 1 100 years 
ago and compelled the people to accept Christianity ; St. 
Boniface had already founded the first monastery in Ger- 
many fifty years earlier still ; here Luther lived all his life, 
translated the Bible into German, and within the precincts 
of this little province was begun the mightiest reformation 
of history ; the " Thirty Years' War " laid its terrible, 
desolating hand upon Thuringia, blotting out her villages, 
devastating her farms, and destroying her inhabitants. It 
was the birthplace of Froebel; and at Keilhau he established 
the first kindergarten, which alone makes Thuringia a land 
of deepest interest to a teacher. 

This country, then, rich in folk-lore and legend, won- 
derful in historic interest, teeming with all the beauties 
of nature, lay before us for exploration. We entered it 
full of expectation, and our anticipations were more than 
realized. 

The Trip I cannot follow out all the details of the 

trip, nor would they be of interest to American readers. 
After a short ride on the railroad, we left the train, and 
marched for a few hours until it was time for lunch. 



124 A SUMMER TRIP WITH A GERMAN SCHOOL. 

Exceptionally low rates to schools are made by all public 
conveyances in Germany, thereby encouraging this very 
important educational means. We ate the lunch brought 
with us, sitting under the shade of some large trees near 
a village, the commissary department having supplemented 
our store with some cold ham, sausages, and a few loaves 
of coarse rye bread. After resting awhile, we visited the 
site of the first Christian monastery in Germany, now 
marked by a small monument. I noticed that after our 
leader had gathered the boys about him, and given them a 
brief lesson in history, many of them took out their note- 
books and made a sketch of the monument. What a place 
to teach history ! It could not fail to make an impression 
deep, real, and lasting. 

But the evening draws nigh, and it is time to think of 
supper and bed. We went to a village hotel where pro- 
vision had been made for our accommodation and gathered 
around long tables for the evening meal. It consisted of a 
mixture called " beer-soup," which was a sort of thick por- 
ridge. I had never eaten anything like it before, and hope I 
may never be called upon to eat it again. The boys and 
German teachers, however, ate it with apparent relish, so it 
may be that I am lacking in taste. Plenty of bread and 
cheese assisted in annihilating the vacuum of the stomach 
occasioned by some sixteen hours of activity. As soon as 
the meal was over, each boy made notes of the day's events 
in his note-book, the teachers supervising. Then came bed- 
time — for the boys. We all adjourned to the large ball- 
room ; and after a short evening prayer, the boys went to 
each teacher, gave him the hand and wished him "Gute 
Nacht ; " then taking off* their coats they lay down in the 
clean straw and were soon in dreamland. 



THE PEDAGOGICAL CONFERENCE. I 25 

The Pedagogical Conference. — This completes the day 
for the boys but not for the men. Assembled around 
tables with foaming beer before them, the teachers now 
hold a pedagogical conference in which the events of the 
day are discussed. I remember one incident that came 
up. During the day a boy had fallen in with me on the 
march, and had become very much interested in American 
life and customs. It was a boy whom they had found 
hard to interest in anything ; and the value of free inter- 
course between pupil and teacher on such a trip, when all 
eat, sleep, and live together on perfect equality and in 
good fellowship, was fully recognized as an educational 
force. I should not be surprised if the steerage of one of 
our great Atlantic steamship lines had brought that boy 
to our shores and he has become a patriotic citizen of the 
great Republic, as the result of that conversation. A 
large part of each night is spent in discussion, song, anec- 
dote, and good cheer, all covered by the word "Kneipe," 
so dear to every German heart. It is a wonder to me 
how these genial souls can stay up so many nights in suc- 
cession, take so few hours' sleep, and then march all the 
next day. We had some days fully ten hours of solid 
tramp. If the boys became tired, the band would strike 
up for awhile, or the teachers would start up some lively 
marching song like, 



" Nur immer langsam voran, nur immer langsam voran, 
Dass die oestreicher Bummelbande nachkommen kann" 



All join heartily in the song and are thereby refreshed. 
In some cases the teachers took little fellows on their 
backs and carried them awhile. And yet some people 



126 A SUMMER TRIP WITH A GERMAN SCHOOL. 

say that the German schoolmaster is destitute of sympathy 
for his pupils ! 

Early in the morning the boys go to the town pump or 
some neighboring brook, strip to the waist, and take a cold- 
water bath. After a cup of hot coffee they form in line, 
and headed by the music band, they march out to the 
forest to eat their cold breakfast. I recall one morning 
when we came to a beautiful spot in the woods where a halt 
was made, a hymn sung, and one of the boys recited a 
prayer, after which the principal made a brief address on 
the goodness of God. I never witnessed a divine service 
more devout, more impressive, and more inspiring than 
that with which we began that day in the Thiiringian 
forest. There I understood Bryant's lofty lines in the 
" Forest Hymn," "The Groves were God's First Temples." 

" Here is continual worship ; — Nature here, 
In the tranquillity that thou dost love, 
Enjoys thy presence. Noiselessly, around, 
From perch to perch, the solitary bird 
Passes ; and yon clear spring, that, midst its herbs, 
Wells softly forth and wandering steeps the roots 
Of half the mighty forest, tells no tale 
Of all the good it does. Thou hast not left 
Thyself without a witness, in the shades, 
Of thy perfections. Grandeur, strength, and grace 
Are here to speak of thee." 

And so the days passed by, each more charming than 
the preceding. If we touched a place where eventful his- 
tory had been made, the story was told to the boys on the 
spot. Geological and botanical specimens were collected 
and stored in the boys' bags for future study. I remem- 
ber one most beautiful lesson in geography. We had 
tramped for hours through the forest, scarcely seeing the sun 



LUTHER MONUMENT. 1 1J 

through the luxuriant foliage. Finally, we came out of 
the woods on top of a hill and before us lay a wonderful 
landscape spread out for miles, with its little cities and 
villages, its river, its railroad, and many other points of 
interest. The principal gathered his boys in a semi-circle 
about him, and taking out his watch, said, "Boys, it is 
four o'clock. Which way is north ? " The boys looked at 
the sun, and judging from his place in the heavens at four 
o'clock, easily located the north. Then taking their pocket 
maps, they all faced to the north and were able, with accu- 
racy, to locate everything in sight. It was a lesson in geo- 
graphy that struck me as practical in the highest sense. 
Should not our children be trained to use maps in the field ? 

The Stoy Monument One incident of the trip was 

peculiarly impressive. The preceding winter Prof. Stoy, 
the founder of the pedagogical seminary at Jena, the 
life-long friend of the poor boys of that city, and the 
originator of these annual summer excursions, had died. 
On the top of the Inselsberg, the highest inhabited peak 
of Central Germany (3,000 feet high), a spot beloved and 
often visited by the professor, a granite monument had 
been erected to his memory by his disciples, who now 
dedicated it with impressive ceremonies. It was an 
important incident in the lives of teachers and students, 
who revered the memory of the great teacher, as well as 
of the boys who so long had loved him as a benefactor and 
father. It is a matter of great pride and satisfaction to 
me that I was privileged to study under and have for my 
warm friend, Karl Volkmar Stoy, the greatest pedagogue 
of his time, and the man to whose memory the above 
mentioned shaft was raised. 



128 A SUMMER TRIP WITH A GERMAN SCHOOL. 

The Luther Monument I must relate another of the 

many experiences of that week because it illustrates in 
another way how carefully those boys had been trained. 
We came to a little village called Mohra, celebrated as 
having been the home of Luther's parents previous to his 
birth. A granite shaft has been erected near the house 
where they lived, and on each of the four sides there are 
inscriptions. The boys were required to examine the 
monument carefully, and then were taken to one side by 
the teacher and questioned as to the inscriptions. Nothing 
had escaped their sharp eyes. They had seen far more 
than I had. It was a splendid illustration of the value of 
training the observation so as to be able to grasp all the 
details of an object. It illustrated also the educational 
value of such a trip by furnishing an opportunity, historical 
in character, for the exercise of the power the boys had 
gained. They will never forget that monument, or the 
lessons it teaches. 

Utilizing the Experiences But I must bring my story 

to a close, though after all of these years I still love to linger 
over the events of that week, the educational lessons of 
which are indelibly stamped upon my memory. For seven 
days we marched through this historic land, picking up 
items of interest, gaining sympathy for each other as we 
lived together and bore each other's burdens, gathering 
new physical strength for the next year's work, and collect- 
ing a large quantity of material for future use. For the 
educational value of that trip had not all been inventoried 
when, tired and footsore, we marched again into the old 
university city of Jena and were home again. 

I have mentioned that each boy kept a diary of each 



UTILIZING THE EXPERIENCES. 



I29 



day's events, and also that each made a collection of 
things that interested him. During the following year 
these materials were worked over and many lessons taught 
from them. Thus the geography, history, botany, geology, 
zoology, and manufacturing interests of Thiiringia became 
living subjects, the study of which most naturally centered 
around that summer trip. Can it be supposed that the 
teacher would have any trouble in keeping up the interest 
in a subject so introduced ? Finally each boy wrote a full 
history of his experiences, illustrating by a sketch of a 
monument seen, or an object studied, and bringing in facts 
learned. I possess three of these sketches sent me the 
following year, and they are gems of composition, fine in 
penmanship, beautiful in description, and artistic in design. 
This summer trip furnished plenty of material which 
was correlated during the whole year following, and it 
suggested to the teacher nearly all the subjects necessary 
in a well-rounded education. While we possess but few 
localities in our country so rich in historic interest in so 
small a compass, there are many valuable educational 
lessons which we might apply from the story of this 
chapter. If the teacher would plan ahead, as those 
German teachers do, there are not many schools that 
might not find suitable places to visit, and the means with 
which to make such a visit. The material thus gathered 
would furnish abundant illustrations of the best kind of 
correlation. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GERMAN COMMON SCHOOLS. 

For a great many years the German school system and 
school practice have been of intense interest to American 
teachers. After a careful study of German schools of all 
grades, — country and city schools, Catholic and Protes- 
tant, girls' and boys' schools, and schools of the various sec- 
tions of Germany, — I may be able to give some reflections 
that will be of use to our country. My investigations 
cover a period of more than four years spent in Germany, 
besides a close study of the subject from German peda- 
gogical literature for many years. I visited systematically, 
commencing for example after Easter, when the school 
year begins, and studying the work of each successive 
class, returning to the same school and going through the 
same classes after a few weeks, and then again after a few 
weeks more, in order to study the methods employed and 
to note the progress made. By this means I was able to 
gain a thorough knowledge of the work. Allow me to say 
just here that I have but little patience with those teachers 
who spend their summer vacation in Germany in studying 
tne schools, and come home to write criticisms of the 
system. They know simply nothing about the spirit of the 
German teacher or his work. Only after years of study, 
and hundreds of visits, and a thorough mastery of the 
language, can one undertake such a task. These criti- 

130 



INFLUENCE OF GERMAN EDUCATION. 13 I 

cisms are all the more ridiculous when the critic has only 
a meager knowledge of the German language, as is often 
the case. 

Influence of German Education upon Other Nations. — 

America owes a great deal to Germany for the lessons 
that have been gathered by Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, 
Herman Kriisi, Col. Parker, and others who have more 
recently studied the German schools. German pedagogi- 
cal works, which have been translated into our language, 
have also been a great stimulus to our pedagogical growth 
and to the improvement of our schools. 

Nor are we the only people who have been strongly 
affected by the German school system. The Prussians 
defeated the Austrians at the battle of Sadowa, and after 
a remarkable campaign of only seven weeks secured peace. 
A principal of one of the Vienna schools told me that that 
defeat was a great blessing to Austria, in that it led her to 
remodel her school system after that of Prussia. In less 
than ten months Germany administered a terrible defeat 
to France, and the latter country began at once a reorgan- 
ization of her schools on lines in many respects even 
better than those of her ancient enemy. England has 
sneered at her phlegmatic and philosophical ancestor for 
centuries, and has been profuse with gibes at the "Ger- 
man schoolmaster." And only when she finds that 
German manufactures are filling the shops of London, and 
pressing their way into the markets so long monopolized 
by the British, does she send a commission to study the 
German schools, and then institute measures for popular 
education hardly surpassed anywhere in the world. Swe- 
den, Holland, Belgium, Japan, and almost every other 



I 3 2 



GERMAN COMMON SCHOOLS. 



civilized nation, have felt the influence for popular educa- 
tion which Germany first instituted and in which she still 
leads the world. 

The German Common School. — I shall now endeavor to 
give my readers a picture of the German public school, and 
point out certain lessons and their application. The com- 
mon school (Volksschule) reaches all the masses of Ger- 
man children. All children must enter school when six 
years of age. As careful birth records are kept, there can 
be no mistake about this, and the teacher of every school 
is fully aware of the number of children he may expect 
when the school year begins. Parents have no choice in 
this matter ; and every child will be in his place upon the 
opening day and every day thereafter, sickness alone 
excusing him. Children are admitted only twice a year ; 
namely, about the first of April and the first of October. 
Every child must attend school every day it is in session 
for eight years. 

School is in session six days in the week ; that is, in the 
forenoon of six days, and in the afternoon of four days, 
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons being free. The 
daily sessions are generally from seven to eleven in the 
country, and eight to twelve in the city, and from two 
to four in the afternoon. A total attendance of sixteen 
hours per week is required of the first year pupils, eigh- 
teen of the second year, twenty of the third, twenty-four of 
the fourth, and thirty for all after that. In the higher 
schools, as many as thirty-six hours per week may be re- 
quired. The subjects requiring greatest mental activity 
always come in the forenoon, and such subjects as draw- 
ing, gymnastics, needle-work, and penmanship are placed 
in the afternoon. 



THE SCHOOL BUILDING. 



l 33 



All schools are graded, those of the country as well as 
those of the city ; those of the country into three grades, 1 
and those of the city into six grades. The classification of 
the country schools into three grades admits of an arrange- 
ment whereby the classes shall not be too great in number. 
Thus while in some subjects it may be necessary to have 
more than three classes, by subdividing the above men- 
tioned grades, in many subjects two or three classes may 
be united. 

The Germans long ago solved a problem which is 
perplexing us a great deal, namely, the work of the rural 
schools. The report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural 
Schools is the first serious attempt in our country to solve 
this problem, and it ought to assist in bringing our country 
schools to a higher plane. It is an undeniable fact that 
they have not kept apace with the times. 

The School Building. — Let us now take a look at the 
school building, seating, apparatus, etc. There are no 
" cross-roads " country schools, as the people live either in 
villages or cities. Nor is the village school building ma- 
terially different in appearance from any other residence. 
I say "any other residence," for the schoolmaster always 
has his home in the school, it thus being a residence. His 
living apartments are a perquisite of his office. The rural 
schoolmaster usually has a fine garden which materially 
assists him to eke out his existence. In 1893 there were 
over 1 1,000 teachers in Prussia who received less than 
$200 a. year, and the average for the whole kingdom, in- 
cluding cities, was less than $300 a year. Such perquisites 

1 See "The Country School Problem," by Dr. White, Appendix I. 
Report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools. 



IJ4 GERMAN COMNON SCHOOLS. 

as free rent and fire thus became an absolute necessity. 
The village school building is two stories high, the family 
usually occupying the main floor and the school the 
second. In cities the school is located at some point back 
from the street where the noise of traffic cannot disturb. 
Sometimes two or even three or four schools are thus 
grouped together, — a boys' school, and a girls' school of 
each confession, Catholic and Protestant. The sexes and 
the two confessions are separated wherever possible. 

The height of the ceiling is from twelve to fourteen feet, 
the windows being wide and high so as to admit the best 
light. The seats are arranged so as to bring the light over 
the left shoulder. I have never met an exception to that 
rule. The seats are usually long pine benches with per- 
fectly straight backs and sloping desks, with an aisle at 
each side of the room and through the middle. In the 
most up-to-date schools a clumsy sort of double seat is 
found, never a single seat. I saw some models of American 
single desks in the Berlin Pedagogical Museum, and the 
director, a principal of more than fifty years' experience, 
objected to them on the ground that they would not admit 
of so many children being seated in the room, — an argu- 
ment that American teachers urge in their favor. 

In the province of Posen the average number of pupils 
to a teacher is ninety-five, and in 1891 there were fifty-nine 
schools in which there were more than one hundred 
and fifty pupils to a teacher. In spite of all the improve- 
ments in this respect that the government has been able to 
make, the best that they can do is to place the " normal " 
number of pupils to a teacher at eighty for the country 
and seventy for cities ; the average for all Prussia is over 
sixty-seven. 



LESSONS FROM GERMAN SCHOOLS. 



135 



The walls of the schoolroom are usually bare of all dec- 
orations, and the blackboards are never extended around 
the room filling the available wall-space, as is the practice 
with us. There are usually two movable blackboards, one 
containing a permanent musical staff, and the other being 
for ordinary uses. Thus the whole class cannot be sent to 
the blackboard ; indeed, as the children are packed upon 
the long benches, it is inconvenient to call even a single 
child to the board, as all sitting between him and the end 
of the bench must arise to let him pass. The black- 
board is for the teacher's use only. 

The buildings are poorly ventilated, even the most of 
the new buildings in large cities having no sufficient means 
of removing the foul air and providing pure air. The disci- 
pline is rigid but not unkind. Corporal punishment is 
allowed but seldom practiced. Indeed, in all my visits to 
German schools I have never seen this right abused, and 
have seen it exercised but twice. American teachers have 
the impression that the German schoolmaster is a tyrant. 
I want to testify that a most careful investigation of this 
point has convinced me that he is the child's best and 
truest friend, and that he inspires a friendship which en- 
ables him to influence the child long after school is over 
and the serious business of life entered upon. There is no 
one in the community, save the pastor, to whom the people 
go more confidently for advice than to the village school- 
master. Thus his power does not cease when the school 
course is completed and the young people go out into the 
world. 

Lessons from German Schools. — Among the many 
things of which we love to boast as Americans is our 



Ij6 GERMAN COMMON SCHOOLS. 

public school system. Indeed, that system has accom- 
plished wonderful results and is to-day the most potent 
factor of American civilization. But I shall take the 
risk of being called un-American by asserting that our 
public school system has not kept pace with the times, 
has not made suitable progress, is not making the best use 
of its opportunity, and is in need of some radical reforms. 
We do not spend too much for education, and yet the 
results obtained are not commensurate with the cost. With 
a population fifty per cent greater than Germany we spend 
more than three times as much for education. The expen- 
diture per capita of population with us is $2.61, while that 
of Germany is $1.20. It will hardly be claimed that our 
schools are as efficient as those of Germany, even though 
they cost relatively more than twice as much per capita. 

There are conditions in America which are quite differ- 
ent from the conditions in Germany ; and yet whatever 
lessons Germany or any other country can teach us should 
be gladly accepted, and, where possible, applied to the 
betterment of our schools. We should be as ready to 
accept truth that has been established in the pedagogical 
field, as an Edison is ready to accept the results in elec- 
tricity that are settled. The wise student receives truth 
which has been discovered and presses onward into new 
fields. If this were not so, there would be no progress, 
and the unwillingness to learn from others is the chief 
cause of the slow progress in common school education in 
America. Therefore, in the spirit of honest seeking after 
the best wherever found, and in the desire that just as 
honest effort shall be made to apply what is good when 
found, I propose to discuss some lessons taught us by 
Germany. 



COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE. 137 

Compulsory Attendance. — There is no law on the statute 
books of Prussia that is more thoroughly carried out than 
that requiring regular attendance at school. This is 
worthy of mention when one recalls the dead-letter laws 
in our country concerning school attendance. In the year 
1890, out of 5,299,310 children of school age (6-14), there 
were only 645 physically and mentally capable, who failed 
to attend school. That is, 2-10 of one per cent covers the 
number of delinquents, or 99 8-10 per cent of all the chil- 
dren attended school. Compulsory education has brought 
Germany to the point where in 1893 99 4-10 of all ad- 
mitted to the army had been through at least the common 
school course. With us 83 per cent of all persons through- 
out the country can read and write, leaving seventeen per 
cent illiterate against about one-half of one per cent in 
Germany. 

Here, then, is an important lesson for us to learn. We 
have been attempting compulsory education in a half- 
hearted way for a whole generation, and cannot be said to 
have made much progress. The lesson which Germany 
teaches is that the child between six and fourteen can 
have no other business than to attend school every day it 
is in session, and the parents are responsible for that at- 
tendance. Let us cease to require only twenty weeks of 
schooling, twelve of which shall be consecutive, thus plainly 
hinting that we are not serious in the matter, and pass 
laws requiring every child to attend school every day the 
teacher attends it, the community to forfeit all claim to 
state help if it fails to enforce the law. Then we shall 
have citizens trained to regular habits, and the tramp 
nuisance will soon disappear, because the school is not 
allowing vagrancy in its pupils, — for irregularity of attend- 



jog GERMAN COMMON SCHOOLS. 

ance is a form of vagrancy that very naturally creates the 
future tramp. 

Better Trained Teachers All teachers in Germany are 

professionally trained, have permanent positions, must have 
a salary sufficient for their needs, are entitled to a pension 
from the state when incapacitated for work, and are also 
state officials. These facts give the position of teaching 
a dignity and independence which contribute very mate- 
rially to success. No person can be appointed to the 
office of teacher in the common schools who has not com- 
pleted a normal school course. Of the 71,731 teachers in 
Prussia in 1893, only 241 had not passed through a normal 
course or its equivalent. These latter were old teachers 
who were appointed before the present regulation went 
into force, requiring all teachers to be normal graduates. 
It is interesting to note that there were 2521 teachers who 
had seen between 40 and 50 years of service, and 251 who 
had been in the harness above 50 years. 

How different the picture in our country, where the 
highest percentage of normal graduates is only 32 in 
Massachusetts, and where the percentage drops to less 
than one per cent in some of the western and southern 
states. We cannot hope for any very great improvement 
in our schools until a higher standard of professionally 
trained teachers is reached. I do not meanjyy this simply 
normal trained teachers, for many colleges and other insti- 
tutions are now giving pedagogical courses, and summer 
schools and other agencies are doing a great work in ele- 
vating the teaching profession ; but I do mean teachers 
who have devoted their lives to this work, and have secured 
sufficient technical training in pedagogy and experience in 



PERMANENCY IN OFFICE. 



l 39 



teaching to entitle them to a professional character. Every 
one knows how far short of this standard our teachers 
measure. We graduate from our normal schools only 
about ten per cent of the new teachers needed each year 
in the public schools as we have seen elsewhere. 

Permanency in Office When the German teacher has 

completed his normal course, he is provisionally appointed 
as teacher. After two years and before the end of five 
years he must take a final examination, and if successful he 
is appointed for life. This second examination is largely 
pedagogical, and no one is allowed to take it whose experi- 
ence in teaching has been unsatisfactory. The state thus 
protects itself against unfit teachers. The successful candi- 
dates are inducted permanently into office, and cannot be 
removed except for immoral conduct. It is a very rare 
thing that the occasion arises for the removal of a teacher. 
Doubtless the fact of permanency has much to do with the 
willingness of men and women of talent to devote them- 
selves to a thorough preparation. The average time of 
service of the teachers in Germany is twenty-five years ; 
with us it is five ! This fact speaks volumes for the two 
systems. 

I think one of the most serious drawbacks cf our system 
is the frequent changes of teachers. In most sections of 
our country a teacher must come up for re-election every 
year ; and many trustees never think of employing a teacher 
for the second year, even if they do for the second term. 
A trustee in New York State actually apologized to me on 
the morning after the annual school election because he 
had hired the old teacher for the second term. " I don't 
know nothin' agin her," he said. I asked if her work had 



140 



GERMAN COMMON SCHOOLS. 



been satisfactory, and he replied that it had. I told him 
that I could not see why in the world she should not be 
retained. That teacher is a graduate of the Oneonta Nor- 
mal School ; and yet she had to watch the issue of the 
school meeting to capture the newly elected trustee on 
that very night in order to be sure of her old place at six 
dollars a week ! Her excellent record did not help her 
a particle, and if some one else had reached the mighty 
official's ear before she did she would have been set aside. 
Common business sense should teach a trustee or board of 
education that a teacher who was successful last year may 
be expected to be more successful this year, and the proba- 
bilities are, more successful than any one else they can 
get. 

For the sake of the children I plead for the adoption of 
this lesson. Each year that a faithful teacher remains adds 
to her influence upon the lives of the children and upon 
the character of the community. Many an old teacher in 
a German village has lived to teach the grandchildren of 
his first boys and girls, and three generations have lived to 
call him blessed. His presence anywhere is a benediction, 
and he is honored and beloved scarcely second to his per- 
haps equally long co-laborer, the pastor. I yearn for the 
opportunity to come to our teachers whereby they may 
become a like blessing to the communities of our land. 

Other Lessons. — There are many other things connected 
with the German schools which are most suggestive, some 
of which might well be adapted to our conditions. I will 
merely mention a few, — uniformity of school studies, 
whereby a child who moves from one city or one province 
to another is classified without loss or confusion ; a " nor- 



OTHER LESSONS. 



141 



mal " or minimum course of study which gives a basis for 
all school work, but which may be added to or extended to 
meet local requirements ; entire absence of political influ- 
ence in connection with all departments of educational 
work ; careful and systematic moral and religious instruc- 
tion. 

Of course it is fully recognized that the German school 
system as a whole would not suit our American conditions. 
But what I am pleading for in this chapter is a study of 
that system, a willingness to accept the lessons which 
their longer experience has taught, and a readiness to 
apply whatever has been proven good, no matter by whom 
discovered. With this attitude and this spirit we may 
hope for great progress in American education, until ours 
is the best system in the world. And that may be before 
the first quarter of the twentieth century has passed. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

A Recent Study The necessity of a knowledge of 

the history of education as a part of the teacher's equip- 
ment is now recognized. Twenty-five years ago even 
the normal schools had not yet placed this subject in their 
courses of study. Indeed, it is only in recent years that 
these courses have included subjects intended to give the 
students a philosophy of education. It is true that some 
normal schools have for a long time given technical in- 
struction in pedagogy ; but it has been in connection with 
their " methods " and their practice work, rather than as a 
special discussion of pedagogy for the purpose of obtaining 
a broad, general view. I know normal schools which have 
turned out graduates within the last twenty-five years who 
did not know the meaning of the word pedagogics and who 
were entirely innocent of any knowledge of Comenius, 
Rousseau, or Froebel. These things were not in their 
course, and they had learned nothing concerning them. 
They had been drilled in the history of Alexander, Napo- 
leon, and Washington, but had heard nothing of Pestalozzi, 
Thomas Arnold, or Horace Mann. Nor were they better 
informed in educational literature. The "Emile," the 
"Great Didactic," "Thoughts on Education," "Leonard 
and Gertrude " were as unknown to the young teacher as 
was the Koran. It must be admitted that many educa- 

142 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION COMES FIRST. 143 

tional classics had not yet been translated into our lan- 
guage, and therefore were out of the reach of the great 
majority of our students and teachers. Still, our normal 
schools did not give the attention to this matter which its 
importance warrants. I think that one of the most re- 
markable evidences of educational progress is the literary 
activity in the pedagogical field, and this activity is stimu- 
lated by the large number of readers. 

Not only are the normal schools engaged in more pro- 
fessional study, but the laws of many states require that 
candidates for teachers' certificates shall pass examinations 
in the history of education, school management, school 
law, systems of education, school economy, and philosophy 
of education, the number of subjects depending upon the 
grade of license sought. Because of this awakened interest, 
I desire to call attention to the subject indicated as the 
title of this chapter. It is my purpose to help the teachers 
who are preparing for that dreadful examination, and those 
who feel the need of broader knowledge of a pedagogy, 
whether or not they are to take an examination. It is the 
latter class, however, in whom I am most interested and to 
whom I particularly address myself. 

History of Education Comes First. — History of educa- 
tion should be first in the professional educational course. 
Many courses of study do not place history of education at 
the beginning of the pedagogical work. I am clear that it 
should come first for the following reasons : (1). It is semi- 
academic in character. The academic studies should be 
placed first and professional ones near the end of the 
course. (2). It presents some of the great problems that 
have interested thoughtful men of all past ages, and shows 



144 



STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 



how far those problems have been solved. (3). It indicates 
the theories that have been promulgated, and shows 
which are sound and which unsound. (4). It studies sys- 
tems of education, and selects the good while it rejects the 
bad. (5). It makes the student acquainted with the great 
and thoughtful educators of the past, with their teachings 
and their theories, and thus introduces him directly to the 
great pedagogical questions which have influenced the world, 
and are still influencing it. (6). By furnishing the student 
with the material indicated above, it prepares the way for a 
better understanding of the subjects which follow. It thus 
makes his later studies more intelligible so that he works 
to better advantage. It is clear, then, that the history of 
education is the first professional study that the young 
teacher should take. I therefore advise those who are 
planning a pedagogical course to begin with this subject. 

History of Education a Development. — Karl Schmidt 
says, " The history of the world is the history of the de- 
velopment of the human soul. The manner of this devel- 
opment is the same in the race as in the individual : it is 
the same law, because the same divine thought rules in the 
individual, in a people, and in humanity. Humanity has, 
as the individual, its stages of progress, and it unfolds itself 
in them. The individual as a child is not a rational being ; 
he grows to be rational. The child has not yet the mas- 
tery over himself, but his environment is his master : he 
belongs, not to himself, but to his surroundings. The 
Oriental peoples are the child of humanity. Classical 
antiquity represents the period of youth in the history of 
the world. Christ is the type of perfected manhood. The 
history of the individual reflects and repeats the history of 



PLAN OF STUDY. 145 

humanity, just as the history of humanity is a reflection 
of the history of the Cosmos, and the history of the Cos- 
mos is an image of the life of God ; all history, be it of 
.humanity or of the individual, of the starry heavens or 
of the earth, is development of life towards God." 1 This 
is the great thought that must run through the history of 
education ; and this development must be traced step by 
step, and the lessons of each step brought to light. 

Plan of Study. 1. Environment. — There can be no 
adequate conception of the education of a country without 
a brief study of the history of the people, their social, civil, 
and religious condition. Then, too, geography often has 
much to do in forming the character of the people. The 
influence of climate, of occupation, of environments, of sur- 
rounding neighbors, of political conditions, must certainly be 
great in shaping the education of a people. It will be found 
in several instances that geographical and historical envi- 
ronments alone have given peculiar form to the education. 
Thus the annual overflow of the Nile made the Egyptians 
necessarily good mathematicians, for the land had to be 
resurveyed very frequently, canals to be dug, reservoirs to 
be built ; the enemies which surrounded the early Persians 
compelled them to a martial education as a means of de- 
fense,- and later of offense; the few Spartan citizens who 
had to keep in subjection many times their number, natur- 
ally devoted themselves to physical training ; the discovery 
that Germany and France were outstripping her in me- 
chanical skill led England to abandon her indifference to 
universal education and adopt radical measures of reform, 
so that to-day she has four times as many children in her 

1 Translated from " Geschichte der Padagogik." 



I46 STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

schools as she had thirty years ago ; the pioneer conditions 
of our own country, with our scattered populations, were 
the cause of the district school, independent in its control, 
and isolated in its purpose, a system to which many cling 
with unreasoning tenacity though the conditions have 
changed, and the system is antiquated. I advise the stu- 
dent of educational history, therefore, to become familiar 
with such geographical and historical data as closely affect 
a people before attempting to study their education. Light 
will often be thrown upon the situation, which will explain 
peculiarities, and furnish reasons for what otherwise would 
be inexplicable. 

2. The Home. — The second step is the study of the 
home. A picture of the family, of the influence and 
authority of the parents, of the comforts of the home, of 
the playthings, of how children are regarded, will indicate 
the foundations upon which the educational structure is 
based. The ancient Jew regarded children as the gift of 
God, and therefore he never neglected education in the 
home, even when later he found it necessary to send his 
children to school. The Hindu regards the child as his 
property, which he may dispose of by killing, by sale, or 
which he may rear, as best pleases him. Hence nothing 
but stringent British law and vigilant police prevent him 
from murdering his children, especially the girls, or selling 
them to husbands, if he chooses to do so. There is no 
such regard among the Orientals for the sacredness of the 
person of the child as among the Jews, and the Christian 
civilization has adopted the more humane interpretation. 
The family was the first school, and only when diversified 
duties and the increasing demands of civilization made it 
no longer possible properly to train the children in the 



PLAN OF STUDY. 



147 



home was the school established separate from the home. 
And no matter how good the school, there are certain 
educational duties which belong to the family and always 
will belong there. The importance of the study of the 
home thus becomes apparent ; and the student must be- 
come acquainted with the inner life of a people, which is to 
be found in the home only. 

3. The Schools. — We are now ready to study the 
schools, — the elementary, and the higher schools in 
order. The schoolroom and its apparatus, the teacher and 
his preparation, the course of study, the methods of in- 
struction, the discipline, and the results obtained will each 
receive attention. The improvement in each of these as 
one passes down through the centuries — how sanitary 
requirements are observed, how discipline is less brutal, 
how teachers are better trained, how courses of study are 
more practical and psychological, how women gradually 
obtained greater opportunities — will be noted with deep 
satisfaction. This cannot fail to bring inspiration to the 
earnest teacher. Indeed, the history of education is full 
of inspiration from beginning to end. That is another 
reason why the young teacher should begin with it ; for, if 
he has no yearning for the great work of teaching, if his 
heart is not stirred by the efforts of Socrates, Fenelon, 
Comenius, Pestalozzi, or Froebel to bless their race, he is 
not cut out for a teacher, and the sooner he knows it the 
better. 

4. Educational Systems. — We are apt to boast of our 
American public school system. It is not my purpose to 
discuss that system at this time. It has done great good 
and is justly our pride. The great majority of our people 
obtain all of their education in the common school, and 



I48 STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

the product, partly at least of the common school, is the 
most intelligent and enterprising people on God's footstool. 
I do not give the credit of this by any means entirely to 
our school system ; but it must have its share of the glory. 
Our mixed blood, our rigorous climate, our unstinted 
resources, our primitive conditions, our wonderful oppor- 
tunities for wealth and advancement, — all these have 
contributed to make us what we are. But many of these 
conditions are gone forever and new conditions confront us. 
Is the school system which sufficed a century ago under 
other conditions to be continued forever ? Or shall we study 
the systems of China, Rome, Greece, Germany, France 
— those of the past and those of the present — to see what 
we can adapt to our American civilization ? 

History of Education opens the door to such a study. 
The time has come when American teachers and American 
thinkers must enter that door and seek for a remedy for 
the weaknesses in our system, — weaknesses which grow 
more and more apparent every year. 1 The scientist takes 
the result of problems that others before him have solved, 
and goes forward to new fields of investigation and new 
truth. With less wisdom than pride our law-makers have 
ignored the lessons which the world teaches concerning 
educational systems, being determined to work out their 
own theories. Hence we have made but little progress. 
Let us, therefore, learn lessons from the experiences of 
others and apply them wherever they are applicable. 

5. Methods of Instruction. — If a certain method of 
instruction is pursued for a long time, it must produce 
certain marked characteristics. The Chinese method is an 

1 See Chapter XVI. 



PLAN OF STUDY, 



149 



illustration of this truth. For thousands of years their 
method has been the repetition of facts or data, without 
the slightest reference to the intelligent comprehension. 
The memory is the only faculty cultivated. The pupil 
who can best retain facts makes the greatest progress. 
In the early years no effort is made to bring the child to 
comprehend. Hence, as but few children attend school 
for more than three or four years, but few Chinamen may 
be said to have been taught to think. It is said that every 
Chinaman can read. I add, but few Chinamen can read. 
Both of these statements are true. To explain this para- 
dox, let me say that all learn to call words, but few tinder- 
stand tliem ; all have the form, few have the content of 
reading. It is not reading when the content, the meaning, 
is wanting. 

Now, what is the product of this non-thinking method ? 
The late war between Japan and China answers the 
question pretty well. A people of forty millions de- 
feated four hundred millions : it was thought against 
tradition ; to-day against four thousand years ago ; intel- 
ligence and determination against bluster and brag. The 
product of the Chinese method is an egotistical, super- 
stitious, lying, non-progressive individual. He is inventive 
enough, but his power of invention does him no good as 
he does not know how to use its results. The Chinese 
invented gunpowder, the printing-press, and the mariner's 
compass thousands of years ago ; and yet the world was 
not better, richer, or wiser thereby. He could not apply 
his inventions, or utilize them for his own improvement, 
aggrandizement, or defense. He is imitative enough, but 
that power cannot be relied upon with him, as the Cali- 
fornia woman found. She taught her Chinese cook how 



i 5 o 



STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 



to make a cake. In the process she broke three eggs and 
threw them into a dish ; but the fourth was bad and she 
threw it away. Her Chinaman made a cake the next day ; 
he broke three eggs, and threw away the fourth without 
discriminating whether it was "good, bad, or indifferent." 
The Chinese method, then, suggests what not to do. A 
study of the methods of the Hindus, the Spartans, and 
the subtleties of the Scholastics, will prevent the teacher 
from falling into their serious errors. 

We hear a great deal about the "Natural Method" of 
teaching modern languages. A few years ago W. T. Stead, 
editor of the Review of Reviews, published a series of arti- 
cles showing the remarkable progress of his children in 
learning French under a French teacher who employed the 
"Natural Method." The Frenchman had blundered upon 
the method by attempting to learn German while shut up in 
his room with a dictionary and a German grammar. While 
he was failing in this, a baby learned to speak its mother- 
tongue. Hence the Frenchman evolved a "new method," 
namely nature's method, the method the child used. This 
he tried on Mr. Stead's children, having them daily from 
three to five hours for seven months. They were able to 
write simple compositions in French, converse with some 
freedom, and read fairly well. Not a very remarkable 
feat by any method when one remembers the number of 
hours they were under their private tutor. And yet it 
was heralded as a new and great discovery ! The truth is, 
Roger Ascham in England, Montaigne in France, and 
Ratke in Germany, had each practiced the same or similar 
method from two hundred and fifty to three hundred years 
before, and Pliny had taught practically the same method 
fifteen centuries earlier still. A knowledge of the history 



PLAN OF STUDY. 



I S l 



of education would not have robbed the Frenchman of the 
credit of any success that he might have gained with 
these children, but it would have prevented his ridiculous 
claim of a new discovery. 

It is to prevent such situations as the above that I urge 
the study of this subject. But there is a much more im- 
portant reason for this directly in the field of methods. A 
study of the inductive method of Bacon prepares the 
teacher to understand the spirit of research and investi- 
gation which characterizes the nineteenth century, and it 
explains at once the wonderful progress made. It also 
opens the eyes to the limitless and ever-widening field 
before us. A study of the methods of Rousseau takes the 
teacher into the field of nature study and explains the 
recent movement in child-study. A study of Froebel 
explains the Kindergarten, a study of Pestalozzi shows the 
beginning of object teaching and the taking of the child to 
things, while a study of Comenius indicates the beginning 
of illustrations in text-books. And so I would expect the 
study of the history of education to indicate the source of 
any particular method and thereby assist the teacher in 
understanding it ; to prevent experiment with bad methods 
by showing where they have been tried and failed ; and 
finally, to make acquainted with methods that have stood 
the test of time and been proven worthy of adoption. 

6. Inspiration from Great Teachers. — Not least impor- 
tant of the benefits to be derived from history of education, 
is the knowledge of the great men who have made that his- 
tory. Every teacher should be acquainted with Socrates, 
Plato, Quintilian, Augustine, Erasmus, Luther, Comenius, 
Pestalozzi, and a host of others. On the score of general 
information this is essential. There is no more excuse for 



152 



STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 



ignorance on the part of the teacher concerning these men 
than there is for lawyers to be ignorant of Coke or Black- 
stone ; ministers to know nothing of Luther, Wesley, 
Beecher, or Hodge ; or physicians never to have heard of 
Harvey, Pasteur, or Koch. We claim professional stand- 
ing with other professions ; that claim cannot be main- 
tained unless we meet the requirements of a profession, 
and one of these requirements certainly is a knowledge of 
the men who have given us a history of education, as well 
as of their works. 

This much for a general and professional knowledge; 
let me point out a few instances in which the great 
teachers of the past may furnish inspiration, comfort, en- 
couragement, and hope to every individual teacher who 
needs help. And there are none of us who do not have 
our moments of discouragement, times when our best 
efforts seem to bring only failure. We need sympathy, 
and do not know where to turn to get it. But I want to 
tell the young teacher that the history of education fur- 
nishes plenty of examples to meet every contingency and 
every phase of the teacher's life. Sometimes failure stares 
us in the face. Go to Comenius for comfort. Twice 
burned out and all his property, his books, his valuable 
manuscripts destroyed ; banished forever from his native 
land ; often persecuted, poor, and without friends, he still 
persevered until he compelled recognition and became the 
foremost educator of the seventeenth century. Or Pes- 
talozzi — where does history furnish a more pathetic 
example of constant failure. He tried the ministry, and 
failed ; he tried the law, and failed ; he tried farming, and 
failed. We find him an old man with a long list of failures 
marked against him ; and yet he loved humanity, his 



PLAN OF STUDY. 



J 5. 



heart bled for the poor and lowly, and he persevered. 
" He lived like a beggar in order to teach beggars to live 
like men." We have seen that when offered political 
office he replied in words that make every teacher's heart 
thrill with emotion and every fiber tingle with joy. " / 
will be a schoolmaster." Ah, there is nothing nobler, 
nothing better, after all, than to be what Pestaiozzi was, a 
teacher ! Follow him once more as a teacher and you do 
not find immediate and continued success. 

Indeed, his sun went down in a cloud, but not until he 
had had princes, and philosophers, and statesmen at his 
feet, and until Germany, and France, and England, and 
Russia, and America had heard his message, and begun a 
work of educational regeneration that will go on till the 
end of time. So how can the consecrated teacher help 
finding encouragement through the study of the life of this 
man ? 

The life and teachings of Pestaiozzi suggest an analogy 
with One far greater, wiser, and nobler than he, the Great 
Teacher, whose life, whose pedagogical principles, and 
whose practice, both in teaching and in living, are ever to 
be the highest type for the teacher. That life and that 
character will influence the teacher just so far as he seeks 
to know and be guided by it, and success will come 
only according to the measure with which the spirit of the 
Great Teacher becomes our spirit. " He went about 
doing good." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE RECITATION. 

A great deal of importance must naturally be attached 
to the recitation. In it the teacher shows his method of 
instruction, his ability to interest and hold the attention 
of the pupils, his mastery of the subject, and his power of 
imparting knowledge to the class. One who lacks the 
power of successfully conducting a recitation will not suc- 
ceed as a teacher. It is the most vital element of the 
every-day duties of the schoolroom, and it means a great 
deal more than formerly. 

Origin of the Term It is probable that we get this 

term "Recitation " from the early practice of "hearing " 
lessons. The teacher read the question from the text -book 
and then took notice whether the pupil recited the answer 
which had been committed to memory also from the text- 
book. There was no teaching required by this method ; 
and anybody who could read, write, and cipher a little, and 
maintain order could "keep school." We have better 
trained teachers and better methods, but we have no other 
word to indicate this exercise and must therefore continue 
to use the word " Recitation." There is a double office to 
be fulfilled, however, namely, recitation by the pupils to 
show that they have gained the mastery of the subject, and 
instruction by the teacher. These two activities must be 

i54 



PREPARATION. 



15$ 



harmoniously employed to secure the well-balanced recita- 
tion. 

Herbartian Theory The German educational philos- 
opher, Herbart, and his disciples, have given a great deal 
of attention to the recitation. Indeed, all German normal 
schools and teachers lay great stress upon this subject. 
According to the Herbartian theory there are five steps in 
the recitation, namely, preparation, presentation, associa- 
tion, recapitulation, and application. I propose to present 
this theory, with such modifications as personal experience 
and practice may suggest. Let us study each step in 
detail. 

Preparation. — In considering this topic I do not mean 
the preparation of the teacher, that is, the general prepa- 
ration for the work of the profession, nor the special prep- 
aration for each day's work and for each class — this is 
taken for granted. I mean that the child must be pre- 
pared. I suppose that if a Dakota farmer were to go out 
on the unbroken prairie and scatter wheat at the proper 
season, some seeds would sprout and grow ; but he would 
certainly get no crop. He prepares the soil thoroughly 
and then sows his grain, and in due season is rewarded 
under Providence with an abundant harvest. The rich soil 
was there all the time, and the sunshine and rain contrib- 
uted their share ; but until the soil had been prepared he 
was a foolish man to expect a crop, no matter if the seed 
was of excellent quality and bountiful in quantity. Is not 
the analogy complete with the child ? Is it not equally 
foolish to sow the seeds of knowledge in the child's mind 
without preparing him to receive it ? And yet how many 



i 5 6 



THE RECITATION. 



teachers scatter excellent seed, it is true, and a plenty of 
it ; they scatter it upon rich, virgin soil that is capable of 
yielding ample fruitage ; they sow it, too, at the right sea- 
son, but they get only a small product as the result of their 
earnest labors. They have not prepared the soil. Just as 
the farmer prepares the ground before he sows the seed, 
so the teacher must prepare his pupils for the lesson. 
This is the first step. 

But how shall this be done ? I reply, by calling up 
whatever related knowledge the child may already possess 
on the subject. Let us illustrate by a concrete example or 
two. Suppose you wish to teach a class about the tiger. 
Have the children talk about the cat ; if any have seen a 
tiger let them describe it ; show them pictures of the tiger. 
In this way they will have their interest awakened, and 
will be prepared for the lesson you wish to teach. If you 
are to teach percentage, call up the knowledge of deci- 
mals. To prepare a class for the study of the battle of 
Trenton, study Washington's retreat across New Jersey, 
note the sense of security of the British, find out the 
German way of celebrating Christmas. All of these 
things must be known before the class can study the battle 
of Trenton, and this knowledge must be brought to the 
front. So with every recitation, the child is prepared for 
the apperceptive process, for the assimilation of the new 
by calling up the old, and through this is made ready for 
the introduction of the new material. Let the last word 
to the teacher upon this topic be, prepare the soil before 
you sow the seed. 

Presentation. — - Having prepared the ground, the next 
step is to sow the seed. The teacher must instruct and 



PRESENTATION. 



l S7 



not simply hear lessons. This does not mean that the 
teacher does all the talking. There must be telling by the 
pupils as well as by the teacher. They " learn to do by 
doing." Self-activity is the most important principle of 
education. Judgment is necessary to determine how much 
shall be told the pupils and how much they shall be left to 
find out for themselves. A whole essay might be written 
on this point, but it must suffice here to say that pupils 
should be encouraged to help themselves, while the 
teacher should not allow them to wander until they are 
discouraged when a word will start them in the right 
direction. I once spent three days on a problem in arith- 
metic that I could have mastered in an hour with a little 
hint from my teacher and thus have saved all my flounder- 
ing and waste of time. 

A person lost in a great forest wanders about in a circle. 
It would be foolish for him to refuse the kindly offices of 
one who knows the way, on the ground that he will know 
the forest better if he find his way out himself. While 
this might be true, the knowledge thus gained is likely to 
cost too much. So the teacher must simply guide the child 
when the way becomes too intricate for him, but he should 
not do the work for him. Again, the presentation must not 
be simple entertainment. I fear that too often we make 
our instruction a matter of mere entertainment. Of course 
the children must be interested, but if our purpose does 
not carry with it the idea of driving home some important 
truth it falls short of a proper ideal. In the presentation 
of the lessons, objects will be used, illustrations employed. 
The concrete has a large place in the elementary school, 
and some place throughout the whole curriculum, espe- 
cially in science teaching. Use objects when they will 



I58 THE RECITATION. 

assist in enforcing the truth or in making it vivid ; but do 
not use them when they are not needed, that is, when to 
present them is a matter of mere entertainment. Present 
the lesson clearly, concisely, logically, and with such force 
as to drive home its truth. Present it in many ways and 
many times, so that all sides of it are brought out and all 
types of mind are met. One child will grasp your mean- 
ing by one form of presentation while another child needs 
a different method. Hence the teacher must be familiar 
with different methods. Then, too, care must be exercised 
in choosing the right material. A five-year-old boy was 
sent to the Kindergarten for the first time. He came 
home at the close of school thoroughly indignant, and said 
to his father, " I'm not going there again. It takes too 
much of my time." The material presented had not been 
suitable for that boy. As much judgment should be 
shown in not getting beneath the capacity of the child as 
is shown in not shooting over his head. " Get down to 
the level of the child," is a good motto, but, I add, be 
sure and not get below his level. 

Association. — Having presented the new material, the 
teacher must be assured that it is assimilated. It is not 
what we eat that enriches the blood, but what we digest. 
Just so it is not what is given to the child that contributes 
to intellectual growth, but what he appropriates, what he 
assimilates. The related knowledge that he already pos- 
sesses must now be brought forward and utilized. Of 
course this has already been done in a measure in the fore- 
going steps, but now the act of association must be 
definitely carried out. The new must not be left a 
stranger but must be thoroughly established and made at 



RECAPITULATION. 



59 



home by association. It is a well established psychological 
truth that isolated facts are the hardest to master and 
related facts the easiest. Therefore, the greater the num- 
ber of facts already possessed by the child which can be 
associated with the new, the sooner and more effectual 
will be the mastery. We call this process apperception ; 
and if we fail to secure an apperception of the new, we 
have brought the truth simply to the threshold of the 
child's consciousness and then shut the door in its face. 
The teacher should often ask himself the question, Have I 
brought this truth over the threshold and into the inner con- 
sciousness of the child? Or is it still a stranger hesitating 
without the portal ? How often facts that we supposed 
had become familiar to our pupils were found after all to 
be strange and unknown. It is because by many repeti- 
tions, by a variety of methods, by thorough association, we 
have not really made the apperceptive process complete. 

Recapitulation Kern says, " Complete mastery of a 

subject has not been gained until the child is able to re- 
produce it in a logical, intelligent statement." That means, 
for example, that after a topic or period in history has been 
discussed, the pupil must be able to reproduce all of the 
leading facts and lessons in logical order ; it means that 
after hearing a lecture or sermon he must be able to give 
an outline of it ; it means that when he understands how 
to work problems in arithmetic, or has mastered a principle 
in grammar, he can clinch his knowledge by a rule. I 
know that many teachers do not believe in teaching rules, 
and I agree with them so far as teaching the rule at the 
outset is concerned ; but I am profoundly convinced that 
to omit the recapitulation, summary, topical statement, 



l6o THE RECITATION. 

outline, rule, or whatever you choose to call it, at the end 
of a discussion, is to leave the knowledge at the threshold. 
After the child has worked an example on the blackboard 
he explains it step by step ; but he does not leave that 
subject until he is able to tell how any example under that 
class is worked, and that is a rule. Having learned how 
to work the individual example, still further, having mas- 
tered the method of working all examples under that 
head, and being able to recapitulate in the form of a rule 
made by himself, he should then commit to memory the 
rule of the book. 

This gives him norms correct in language, accurate and 
exact, to which he will ever after refer. The more norms 
one has to fall back upon and to guide him the surer he 
is of himself. Recapitulation embodies the idea of review, 
repetition, drill. Every teacher knows that we must go 
over our work repeatedly until it is fixed. We do not drill 
as much as we ought in our modern methods, and hence 
there is so much smattering, — " a little of everything and 
not much of anything." The wonderful ability of those 
boys described in the chapter on a Summer Trip (p. 121) 
to recapitulate the facts recorded on the Luther monu- 
ment is an example of what can be done by following this 
method of the recitation. 

Application The knowledge obtained should be ap- 
plied in practical life. It is not enough that the child can 
multiply six by five in the multiplication table, he must 
know if he buys of the grocer five pounds of sugar at six 
cents a pound, what it comes to. The child regards the 
school as one thing and life as another thing, separate and 
distinct. The school should prepare for life ; and appli- 



APPLICATION. i6l 

cation, the final step in this process, is most essential to 
that end. Abundant opportunities to apply the lessons of 
the school are found on every hand. A house is building 
not far from the school. In the excavation of the cellar, 
the building of the cellar walls, the erection of the frame, 
the siding, plastering, painting, simple, practical problems 
are involved which cover about all of the arithmetic needed 
in life. Why not set the pupils at work upon these real 
problems ? Let them measure, and compute, and find 
cost. They will not only be interested, but the problems 
will have another meaning to them than the problems of 
the book. 

This is the final step in the recitation. If each of these 
steps has been carefully followed there should be thorough 
knowledge and mastery on the part of the pupils. It 
should be remarked that to attempt to employ all of 
these steps in the period which we call the recitation, often 
covering not more than fifteen or twenty minutes, to feel 
that one must go through them all in that time, would 
often be impossible. Indeed, it would soon merge into a 
formalism that would destroy interest. The originality 
and individuality of the teacher must always remain the 
strongest elements of success in the recitation. Nothing 
should hinder the freedom of the teacher in the work of 
instruction. But while the teacher is not to be thus cir- 
cumscribed, it is well that he should have a plan of pro- 
cedure which will serve as a guide. It may require a 
number of days to compass the work that I have' outlined, 
rather than a single recitation, but the teacher should not 
leave the subject until he has successively given all of the 
steps. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM IN EDUCATION. 

In education, as well as in politics and religion, we 
Americans are extremists ; we swing from one extreme to 
another. It has come to be almost a proverb in national 
politics that at the congressional election succeeding the 
election of president, the party opposed to him will be vic- 
torious. I am not writing a political essay, nor am I mak- 
ing prognostications as to the complexion of our next 
national congress ; I am simply using a well-known histori- 
cal fact to illustrate the educational lesson which I wish to 
draw. 

Extremes in Politics. — Nor have we to look at 
national politics alone to find cases in point. I have 
known New York State to cast a majority of fifty thousand 
for one party, and the very next year cast a majority of 
one hundred and ninety-three thousand for the other 
party. Indeed, I do not know but an even greater swing of 
the pendulum has been recorded since that time in that 
state. These great upheavals, " land-slides," as they 
are sometimes called, are very common throughout our 
country. Without doubt they indicate a very national 
characteristic, a characteristic which is produced partially, 
at least, by practices in our schools. 

I doubt if any one would claim that such upheavals are 

162 



EXTREMES IN RELIGION. 1 63 

an indication of stability of government. Laws are 
passed at one session of our legislatures and promptly 
repealed at the next. Three times within a half dozen 
years great and vital changes have been made in our 
tariff, which have destroyed confidence, seriously inter- 
fered with business, and left us still quite uncertain as to 
the future. Of course no one will deny that the sooner 
bad laws are repealed, and the sooner the " rascals " are 
"turned out," the better. But I am pleading for more con- 
servative action, which will prevent the bad laws from ever 
being made and the "rascals" from ever being chosen. 

In Religion. — The same disposition to go to extremes 
shows itself also in religion. Many a man goes to ex- 
tremes in sin, thinking that sometime some great over- 
whelming force will overtake him which will turn him 
entirely around and then he will abound in righteousness. 
We all have known of some such cases as this, where the 
whole current of a bad life has been turned by the power 
of the spirit of God, and that life has become as earnest 
for good as it has been for evil. But such men are apt to 
be spasmodic in their religious lives, living under a high 
state of religious activity while under special stress and 
easily falling away when that stress is removed. I doubt 
whether such Christians are as useful as those who have 
not sunk to such depths of iniquity or risen to such 
ecstatic heights, but who have lived steady and consistent 
lives, never going to either extreme, but daily serving 
their God and their fellow-men because it is a part of their 
meat and drink to do so. Americans are apt to misjudge 
the religious life of the German people because it lacks 
the outward demonstrations to which we are accus- 



164 THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM IN EDUCATION. 

tomed. They go to neither of the extremes above men- 
tioned. But I am able to testify, after most intimate 
connection with the inner life of Germans, in their homes, 
in their churches, and in their business relations, that they 
believe and practice true Godliness with sincere faith and 
charity. I believe that the land of Luther shelters the 
most profoundly and consistently religious people among 
all the Christian nations. Therefore I do not contribute 
money to send missionaries to convert the Germans. 
"By their fruits ye shall know them," said the Great 
Teacher, and measured by that standard, we could learn 
many lessons from them. In their love of home, their 
unostentatious charity, their religious training of their 
children, their truthfulness, their honesty and uprightness 
of dealing, their carefulness in the contraction of debts 
and their faithfulness in discharging debts contracted, 
their obedience to law and love of country, their genuine 
piety, and their profound belief in a Supreme Being, they 
are unsurpassed, if not unequalled, by any people I know. 
It is true that they do not go to extremes in religion ; but 
that does not prove them any less Godly, nor does it indi- 
cate inconsistent Christian life and character. 

Temperance. — One more illustration of our tendency to 
swing to the extremes of the pendulum. A few years ago 
we had a crop of temperance lecturers whose chief quali- 
fications were the depths of drunken degradation through 
which they had passed. They vied with each other in tell- 
ing stories of their personal degradation and drunken de- 
bauchery. Sensitive women and innocent children were 
served with accounts of vile life, sometimes real and some- 
times imaginary, which certainly they had better never heard. 



TEMPERANCE. 1 65 

Doubtless the story of redemption connected with each 
case may have encouraged other fallen men to hope, but I 
think that far more harm than good was done because of 
the evil effects upon those who were innocent. Such 
stories should be withheld from children for exactly the 
same reason that trashy novels and newspaper accounts 
of crime should be withheld from them. Now, I do 
not believe that one needs to have been a drunkard to be 
a temperance man, nor do I believe that a man is a better 
temperance man because he has been an inebriate and has 
reformed. It is once more the swing of the pendulum in 
American life which is thus typified, and I submit it is a 
characteristic that indicates weakness rather than strength. 

Other examples might be given to show the tendency of 
the American people to extremes. I have enlarged thus 
fully because I wished to prepare the way to show that it 
is the duty of the school to look beyond its own narrow 
limit, and not only to prepare the children for right lives, 
but also to study the evils of society and seek to correct 
them. It is the schoolmaster who won the victories of 
Prussia and who is preparing France to win hers. If the 
American republic shall rise to the fulness of its oppor- 
tunities, it will be because the schoolmaster has been at 
work and has understood and measured up to his responsi- 
bilities. But there are extremes in our educational practices 
which I think it will be profitable for us to study. Young 
teachers will hardly believe some of the things that I de- 
scribe, but the older ones can easily appreciate the argu- 
ment because they remember the history. 

Let us look at some of the movements during the last 
quarter of a century in which educational practice has 
swung from one extreme to the other. 



I 66 THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM IN EDUCATION. 

Spelling. — A few years ago a cry went through the 
land: "Down with the spelling-book." The old practice 
of learning columns of words from the spelling-book, and 
the accompanying definitions, was justly condemned. The 
definition was often as meaningless to the child as the 
word defined, and no attempt was made to make either 
intelligible. The results were unsatisfactory, and the good 
spellers were only those who had a "knack" at spelling. 
Even these were not to be relied upon when it came to 
the almost sole use of spelling, namely the written expres- 
sion of thought. The old fashioned spelling-school was a 
splendid opportunity for the boys and girls to get together 
and have a good time, but it did not make good spellers. 
The friends of reform (and reform was sadly needed) urged 
that the child must learn to use the words he needs ; and 
these words were to be selected from his reading-book, his 
geography, his history, etc. 

Without doubt this is a sound pedagogical principle, 
which at once appeals to every thoughtful teacher. But 
still our pupils are poor spellers. The remedy is not a 
complete success. We have gone to the farthest extreme, 
and parents criticise the schools because their children are 
poor spellers, while teachers are obliged to admit that the 
results are not all that was hoped for. Of course there 
are many more subjects taught now than were taught in 
the old-time school ; but with our better teachers and 
equipment, with improved methods of instruction, more 
may justly be demanded of the present than of the old 
school. I think we must admit that the abolition of the 
spelling-book was a mistake. Many schools have recog- 
nized this and have reinstated it, not indeed to its old place, 
but as a supplement to the spelling which is taught from 



OBJECT LESSONS. 1 67 

every subject of the school course, in every written exercise. 
The child will not get enough spelling from incidental 
work, but must be drilled in that as in every other subject. 
He must not be taught to spell the, to him, meaningless 
words, but must secure a much wider vocabulary than 
the incidents of his school work furnish ; and there are 
well-arranged spelling-books which offer him just such a 
vocabulary. 

Another movement was stimulated by a closer study of 
the methods of Pestalozzi which led to the greater use 
of objects. 

Object Lessons Who among the older teachers does 

not remember the "object lesson craze " ? It is true that 
the teaching of a quarter of a century ago was singularly 
destitute of concrete illustrations, and that but little was 
done that was in harmony with the first law of mental 
development, that of the employment of the sense-percep- 
tions. The instruction was hard and dry, requiring but 
little pedagogical knowledge or skill. Indeed, the dearth 
of trained teachers made such a method necessary, and 
any one who could hold the large boys in check might be 
engaged to " hear " the lessons and " keep " school. But 
the first institution in this country to catch the spirit of 
the " New Education " was the Oswego Normal School, 
and this school became widely celebrated for its "object 
teaching." All honor to that noble institution for the in- 
spiration it has given to American education, and all honor 
to its revered principal, the late Dr. E. A. Sheldon, for the 
pioneer work he did in stimulating higher ideals, and in 
introducing modern methods into our schools. Every Os- 
wego graduate went forth to preach and practice the use 



I 68 THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM IN EDUCATION. 

of objects in teaching children. Many of those graduates 
were imitators rather than thinkers, and their faith was often 
grounded on the example set by their teachers in the prac- 
tice school rather than on fundamental principles. That 
led them into serious errors without their being able to 
find their way out. They lacked educational philosophy. 
Nevertheless, they were the means of a great forward step 
in educational practice. The Oswego movement was not 
a new theory, as Germany had been using this idea for 
half a century ; it was new to us. We learned the lesson 
superficially, as we do many lessons from other countries. 
And so it was objects, objects, and nothing but objects, the 
more objects the better. In teaching the number six, the 
teacher brought in beans, and corn, and marbles, and blocks, 
and splints, and fruit, — anything and everything that could 
be put into the children's hands. It is now understood 
that a vital error was made in this practice, for the atten- 
tion is divided and distracted by the many objects. A 
psychological principle was violated ; for every particle of 
attention given to the color of the object, to the taste of 
the apple, to the desire for possession, is just so much 
attention withdrawn from the purpose in view, which is to 
teach the number six. And so the introduction of many 
objects defeats the very end, in part at least, for which 
they are used. A single object uniformly used would have 
answered the demand for the concrete without distracting 
the child's mind with a multiplicity of concepts foreign to 
the main end sought, the teaching of the number six. 

We are swinging back again from this extreme. Is 
not, then, the conservative position the correct one, namely 
to use concrete illustrations when they are needed for 
the best presentation of a lesson and to abandon them 



USE OF TEXT-BOOKS. 1 69 

when they are no longer necessary ? They may be needed 
in the laboratory of the high school or college, or in the 
clinic of the university. No rule can be laid down as to 
when concrete examples may be abandoned except the 
one suggested, namely, when they are no longer needed. 

Use of Text-Books. — The old method relied upon the 
text-book, and what we have said about untrained teachers 
applies equally well here. But a few years ago the cry 
was "Throw out the text -book." Because it had been 
abused, it was claimed that it should not be used. 
Teachers were forbidden to have a text-book in the class, 
no books were placed in the hands of the pupils in some 
subjects, and work was outlined without reference to 
text-books. Again we swung to the opposite extreme of 
the old method. But it was found that the work lacked 
coherence, that it was not steady and progressive, in a 
word, it was like a chain, some links of which are sound 
and others weak, some are of steel and others of sand, and 
indeed, sometimes the chain is broken in many places so 
that there is no connection between its parts. Therefore 
we have come back again to the use of text-books, making 
them our guide, our servant, and not our master. Thus 
teacher and pupil and parent have some criterion of prog- 
ress, while the teacher draws from them what facts and 
inspiration they possess, but is not hindered from drawing 
also from other books, from life, and from his own knowl- 
edge and experience. 

I might cite other examples in our school practice to 
illustrate the swing of the educational pendulum. Take 
the expulsion of the Bible from the schools in many 
states, a result obtained a few years ago by those who 



iyO THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM IN EDUCATION. 

were eager to prevent sectarian instruction. But if the 
signs of the times indicate anything, it is that a mistake 
was made, and that public sentiment is turning towards 
a demand for some recognition of God in our schools. 
Then we have the kindergarten, the child study, the 
elementary science craze, and many others. Now all of 
these possess good in themselves, — let no one think for 
a moment that I do not believe in all of them ; but I do 
not recognize that our educational system revolves around 
any one of these. Each has its place, and some time or 
other will settle into that place in our school system." 

Conservative Action. — We are gradually approaching 
the truth ; and if we must go first from a present bad 
practice to its extreme before that bad practice can be 
corrected, then by all means go to the extreme. But do 
we need to do this ? We have found that the other ex- 
treme is an error also, though perhaps not so bad as the 
original one, and our schools suffer thereby. They give 
ground for the charge of "fads," which charge, though 
often unfounded, has an element of truth in it. I think 
two factors in our educational practice will prevent our 
going to extremes and at the same time secure to our 
schools a healthful stimulus of progress and an investiga- 
tion into whatever is new. These factors are: (i) a 
knowledge of educational principles, which will enable us 
to determine what is true and what is false, and therefore 
to adopt the one and avoid the other. (2) A more thor- 
ough examination of the merits of a new scheme before 
either endorsing or rejecting it. We try too many things 
after a superficial knowledge of them. Let us weigh and 
examine each new theory from all sides most carefully; 



CONSERVATIVE ACTION. 



171 



and if it stands the test of such examination, measured 
by educational principles, let us not hesitate to introduce 
and defend it. Thus our schools will not swing forwards 
and backwards, gaining a little each year it is true, but 
every movement will be steadily and strongly forward, 
never to recede from the vantage ground gained. Such 
a conservative course will disarm critics, give courage to 
the teacher, be a great blessing to the children, exert a 
powerful influence on our national character, and gain the 
confidence of all. 



CHAPTER XX. 

WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EDUCATION OF 
THE CHILD? 

A Great Problem. — The education of the child is the 
greatest problem that can interest the human mind. It is 
the problem of this age, and has been the problem of all 
ages. It has occupied the thought of the greatest men 
that have lived, — Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Saint Augus- 
tine, Charlemagne, Erasmus, Luther, Locke, Bacon, Co- 
menius, and hosts of others. Upon its solution depends the 
future of the child, the home, the Republic, and, in its best 
and broadest sense, the eternal welfare of mankind. This 
problem is an ever-changing one. How the child of the 
primitive nomad, or the Persian, or the Spartan, or the 
Roman should be educated was a very different question 
from that which confronts the modern civilized people. 
The nomad father could well teach his boy all that he 
needed to know, — how to strike his tent, to care for his 
flocks, to sling the stone or hurl the spear in battle or 
chase, to prepare the skins of beasts for his clothing. But 
the increasing demands of civilization added not only to 
what the child must know, but also absorbed the attention 
of the father in meeting these new demands, thereby com- 
pelling him to turn over the education of his children to 
some other agency. Hence the necessity for schools and 
teachers. 

172 



A GREAT PROBLEM. 



J 73 



But it is by far too much the tendency in these days to 
relegate the education of the child entirely to the school, 
and parents often find fault with the progress of their 
children, with the subjects taught, and with the methods 
employed. It is always easy to criticise, but it is not so 
easy to point out the remedy. Then, too, lack of proper 
investigation often brings unmerited criticism. The parent 
asks his child to read aloud an article from the newspaper, 
and if the child stumbles, mispronounces, or shows a lack 
of comprehension, the parent at once condemns the school. 
Or perhaps the child misspells some words in a letter to 
his father, the decision is at once made that the school is 
a failure. " There are too many new-fangled notions, the 
schools are not so good as when I went to school," is the 
hasty verdict. 

Now, I am not an apologist for the failures of the 
school ; if the child of thirteen or fourteen of average 
intelligence cannot read intelligibly, spell correctly, write 
a legible hand, perform any operation in arithmetic needed 
in practical life, and relate the principal events of the 
history of his own country in good English, he has not 
been well taught. Not long since I saw a composition of 
perhaps one hundred to one hundred and fifty words by a 
little girl not yet nine years of age, and there was not 
a misplaced comma or period, not a misspelled word, not a 
grammatical error, not a mistake in the use of capitals, 
while the penmanship was superb. Besides this there was 
connected thought and interesting material. Now that 
composition came to me just as it came from the child's 
hands, without a word of correction or a suggestion from 
any one. This child is not a prodigy, she is simply a 
bright, intelligent child who has had good home surround- 



174 RESPONSIBILITY OF EDUCATION OF CHILD. 

ings and excellent school training. I would like to ask 
the men and women who were at school twenty years ago 
how many children fifteen years of age could have done 
as well at that time? There certainly were very few 
schools that accomplished such results. 

I want to say in passing, that I believe that our schools 
are making better readers, better spellers, better arithme- 
ticians, better speakers and writers of English, and more 
intelligent men and women, in this year of our Lord 
than ever before in the history of the world ! And so, I 
deny the charge that our schools are a failure ; but that 
the best education for the child is not yet reached by far, 
I readily admit. That we may approach more nearly to 
the ideal, we must engage all the agencies that may be and 
should be employed to that end. Who, then, are responsi- 
ble for the education of the child ? There are at least five 
factors ; namely, the home, the scJwol, civil society, the 
state, and the church. Each of these has its allotted 
duty, which, if neglected, can scarcely be provided for by 
any or all of the others. Let us consider them in order. 

The Home. — From the time of the earliest establish- 
ment of the home, the care and training of the children 
committed to it has been one of the most imperative and 
holiest of all its duties. No people of antiquity appreciated 
this charge as did the ancient Jews. Children were the 
" gift of God," and it was the duty of the father to train 
them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
In the best days of Rome the matron found her highest 
pleasure in training her children ; and we have not only 
"Cornelia's jewels," but the noble Cornelia who esteemed 
her children as precious jewels. Indeed, as we have seen, 



THE HOME. 



i7S 



before there were schools, there were homes which were 
the sole means of education. Afterwards schools became 
necessary, and to them was committed the chief duty of 
training the young. But I doubt if the home is thereby 
absolved from its duty, certainly not wholly. It must not 
be forgotten that the child is placed in care of the school 
for only about five hours a day, for something like two 
hundred days in the year, and for a limited number of years. 
But the parent is never absolved from responsibility towards 
his child from birth to manhood. He cannot shirk respon- 
sibility, even during the time the child is at school. It 
is clearly his duty to keep watch over the intellectual, moral, 
and physical growth of the child ; to see whether bad habits 
are being formed, to note the character of the lessons 
assigned, and to see that the home work is well done. 

If the intellectual work cannot be shirked by the 
parents, how much more must their attention be given 
to the moral and spiritual training, which also is a part 
of the education of every human being. The true home 
must always be the most important influences in the educa. 
tion of the child, and its responsibility cannot be relegated 
to the day-school, the church and Sunday-school, or to any 
other agency, — first, because children are a charge given 
to the parents by God ; second, because their interest in 
their own offspring must always transcend that of others ; 
and third, because such a large proportion of the child's 
life is under their direct care. Of course the technical and 
professional sides of the educational work belong to the 
teacher. It is not expected that parents shall instruct 
their children in the lessons ; no teacher should send 
pupils home with work that will require explanation from 
the parents ; but parents should see to it that the children 



iy6 RESPONSIBILITY OF EDUCATION OF CHILI). 

attend to the home-work assigned, should keep them 
regularly at school, and should keep track of their progress 
in the school. 

The School. — This phase of education hardly needs 
treatment, as every one acknowledges its responsibility. 
The trouble is that no other agency is recognized. Now, 
I do not want any teacher to slacken interest one whit in 
trying to secure the complete education of his pupils, re- 
gardless of all other agencies that also have their part in 
the matter. It certainly is true the other agencies are 
often so demoralizing that if the school does not save the 
child it is lost indeed. It is also a blessed truth which com- 
pensates for many of the teacher's discouragements, that 
many a man is following a useful and honorable career solely 
because of the inspiration given him by a faithful school- 
teacher. But if the teacher has done his best, and still 
there is failure, I would have him know that the responsi- 
bility cannot rest on his shoulders alone. 

I would have parents also remember that, while the school 
is for the purpose of properly educating their children, it is 
only one element. When parents criticise the school for fail- 
ing to reach their ideal, I would have them ask themselves, 
" What am I doing in this important work ? " The school 
has the advantage over other educational means in that it 
is an institution equipped and set apart for instruction, it em- 
ploys persons trained to teach, it has a clearly marked-out 
purpose in its course of study, and the children are set at 
work to learn definite things at a definite time. The school 
must teach the conventionalities of education, such as read- 
ing, writing, spelling, arithmetic, etc. That is the profes- 
sional work of the school, and parents should not interfere 



SOCIETY. 



177 



with it, but may justly complain if it is not well done. 
Much, therefore, may properly be demanded of the school, 
and I would have it fully measure up to its purpose ; but 
I would have it remembered that other agencies, too, must 
contribute their share in the education of the child. Rec- 
ognizing the importance of the school in the education of 
their children, the parents should see to it that everything 
that money can procure in the way of competent teach- 
ers, comfortable schoolrooms, and material equipment is 
furnished. 

Society Society, too, has its work in education. Just 

what the work of society is in this respect, is rather diffi- 
cult to define. I may make my meaning clear by two or 
three illustrations. Who that has lived for a period of 
years in a small college town has not felt the uplifting influ- 
ence and culture of the surroundings ? Indeed, it is well 
understood that the atmosphere of the college is one of 
the best things connected with the four years a young 
man spends there. But this influence is not limited to 
the students and professors ; it reaches all of the families 
of the community, stimulating many to seek higher educa- 
tion who otherwise would not have aspired to it. I have 
seen this influence affect not only the children of ignorant 
laboring men, but the men themselves. Not, it is true, to 
seek a college education, but to elevate themselves intel- 
lectually through the varied means that a college town 
offers, such as lectures, association with educated men, the 
atmosphere of the community, etc. The presence of a col- 
lege or higher institution of learning is a blessing far be- 
yond its mere teaching facilities. It raises the whole 
community intellectually and morally, and therefore parents 



iy8 RESPONSIBILITY OF EDUCATION OF CHILD. 

act wisely in choosing such a place in which to bring up 
their children. Ex-president Cleveland, or perhaps Mrs. 
Cleveland, has shown appreciation of this fact in the selec- 
tion of Princeton as their home. 

Why is it that so large a proportion of the boys and 
girls of New England towns are looking forward to a 
college education ? Is it not because of the well-equipped 
high schools in these communities, and the many colleges 
almost at their door, that has created among them a senti- 
ment for higher education ? If so, those who establish a 
high school in a town or village are building far broader 
perhaps than they think. The very presence of such an 
institution has an influence upon many who never enter 
its doors. This is what I mean by society as a factor in 
education. 

Let us illustrate this same idea by studying the other 
extreme. Suppose we go to one of the new western towns 
that have sprung up in a day upon the discovery of gold. 
How quickly the level of moral and intellectual life is 
lowered, and how soon men drop into depraved habits. 
Even the incorrect forms of speech habitual to the rough 
miner are adopted, though this was entirely foreign to their 
former practice. Only a few weeks in close company with 
sailors or fishermen are necessary for one to drift into the 
use of their vernacular. 

We may illustrate the same idea with reference to the 
morals of a community. Is it not clear that in a com- 
munity where there is a low state of morals, or where 
gross ignorance prevails, society must necessarily exert a 
bad influence upon the education of the young ? And the 
higher one's social position the greater the influence, 
whether it be for good or evil. The leaders of society 



THE STATE. 



79 



ought not to forget that their acts are watched by others, 
young and old, whose moral life is shaped by the example 
of the so-called " better classes." Many a young girl has 
excused her bad life by saying, " I'm no worse than Mrs. 
So-and-so." The moral tone of a community is an im- 
portant agency in education, for morality is a part of the 
work of education. Therefore parents should avoid bring- 
ing up their children in communities where there is a low 
standard of moral living and moral thinking. Society 
exerts a most powerful influence as an educational force. 

The State. — It is not my purpose to discuss the office 
of the state as to the licensing of teachers, furnishing 
support for schools, building school-houses, supervising the 
work of the school, or assuming control of public education. 
This duty of the state is well recognized in our country. 
But I want to show that in another sense that institution 
which we call the state is a mighty force in education. 
J3y the enactment and enforcement of just laws, by 
inspiring respect for its authority, by demanding strictest 
integrity and faithfulness of its officials, by proper econ- 
omy in its expenditures, the state teaches most valuable 
lessons to the young. One has only to refer to the 
debauchery during the Tweed regime in New York City 
to find a most striking example of the evil effects of bad 
government upon the education of a people. The presence 
of a ring in a city government, in which a few bosses 
control the affairs of the municipality, lining their own 
pockets at will from the public treasury, rewarding their 
friends and punishing their enemies, appointing incapable 
and dishonest men to public positions, cannot fail to 
exercise a most pernicious influence upon the rising gen- 



l8o RESPONSIBILITY OF EDUCATION OF CHILD. 

eration. It creates a sentiment that crooked practices 
are not so bad after all if the victim is the general public, 
and it seems to offer an easy pathway to success. It 
makes a false standard of morality in men's dealings 
with the municipality or with corporations. Few heads of 
city departments exact the same faithfulness from city 
employees under them that they expect from their em- 
ployees in private enterprises. Watch the street-sweepers, 
the garbage collectors, or any other city officials, for an 
illustration of my point. To steal from the city is a less 
grave offense in the general opinion than to steal from an 
individual. Such a condition of things, and we must 
admit that it is common, is an important element in the 
education of the young. Strict integrity in public affairs 
as in private, faithful and honest discharge of duty, the 
enactment and strict enforcement of wise laws, the insis- 
tence upon obedience to law, are duties that the state 
owes to itself to insure its perpetuity, and properly to 
educate its youth. 

The Church The final factor that I shall consider is 

the church. It is not my purpose here to study the 
function of religious education, this being treated in 
another chapter. In a country like ours where church 
and state are separate, even greater responsibility rests 
upon the former so far as the religious education of the 
young is concerned. Hence every church-spire, every 
chapel, every minister of the gospel, every consistent 
Christian man and woman, is an important element in the 
education of the community. Every man and child who 
lives within the radius of the influence of the church is 
affected thereby. Remove the church from a community, 



THE CHURCH. l8l 

and not only vice and crime would lift their hideous heads, 
but ignorance would soon increase. Life and property 
are safer where churches exist, and therefore every man 
living in a community owes something for the support of 
these institutions, even though he may never darken their 
doors. The necessity of religious culture is universal in 
man, and without it no one's education is complete. As 
the school, under our peculiar conditions, cannot under- 
take it, the church, through its direct influence, and 
through the silent and indirect influence of its presence, 
must see to it that this final and all-important side of 
education is not neglected. 

These five factors — the home, the school, society, the 
state, and the church — are responsible for the education 
of the child in this land of ours. Let each do its duty in 
harmony with and support of all the others, so that there 
may result the highest type of manhood and womanhood, 
individuals well-rounded in character, fitted for life's duties, 
and prepared for the hereafter. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 

Education is Emancipation The process of education 

is a process of emancipation. The normal child is born 
into the world with wonderful capabilities, but fettered by 
ignorance. It is the office of education to remove this 
ignorance, to set him free. The new-born babe is literally 
"a little stranger" to the world. He possesses nothing 
but capacity ; and yet what marvelous possibilities are 
before him ! He has no knowledge, no power, but in a 
few years a world of knowledge may be mastered by him, 
the forces of the whole realm of nature may be within his 
grasp and at his command. He has to learn how to see, 
to hear, to taste, to perceive, to imagine, to think. What 
a measureless expanse is to be covered between the little 
child just opening its eyes upon the world and a Bacon, a 
Newton, an Aristotle, a Gladstone ! The child is in the 
bondage of ignorance ; and every act of curiosity, every ex- 
ercise of hand, or foot, or mind, every question asked, is a 
struggle towards the light, towards intellectual freedom. 
For intelligence is freedom, and he who is in the bonds of 
ignorance is a slave indeed. 

The office of the parent, the natural teacher of the child, 
and of the instructor, is to help the child towards this 
emancipation. But neither the parent nor the teacher can 
always be with the child; hence he must be made self- 

182 



SELF-CONTROL. 



'83 



directive, must be taught how to continue his education 
after the above-named agencies have completed their work. 
Success will attend the continuance of that work just in 
so far as two powers or qualities have been developed, 
namely, the power of self-control and the power of self- 
employment. I propose to discuss these powers as ends 
to be sought in education. 

Self -Control.— 

" The noblest lesson taught by life 
To every great, heroic soul, 
Who seeks to conquer in the strife, 
Is self-control." 

The Spartan boy suppressed every evidence of pain, and 
even faced death without flinching in order to win the 
approbation of his seniors ; the Indian stoically endures bar- 
baric torture so as to rob his hated enemy of the triumph 
of seeing him yield to suffering ; the Christian martyr is 
oblivious to the agony of the stake in his ecstatic contem- 
plation of heavenly visions, and in anticipation of future 
bliss ; the mother conceals her anguish over her sick 
child with an outward semblance of cheerfulness. These 
are examples of primitive self-control, the control which 
nature often demands. 

We are constantly meeting in every -day life illustrations 
of this power or its lack. He who is able to hold himself 
in complete command, even under great provocation, and 
not give way to violent temper, excites our admiration. 
The man who intemperately yields to his desires, whether 
it be in eating or drinking, or whether it be in the gratifi- 
cation of lust, and is unable to place a proper curb upon 
them, awakens our pity if not our contempt. It will thus 



184 SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 

appear that the ability to practice self-control may be 
accepted as a criterion in deciding character. Possession 
of this power means a temperate, well-balanced, reliable 
man ; lack of it shows itself in intemperance, eccentricity, 
and instability. 

Now, if education has for its main purpose character- 
building, the training to self-control should be an important 
function of school work. It should be begun in early 
childhood, even before the child enters school. The dis- 
cipline, whether it be in the home or the school, should 
not be merely that of the stronger intellect over the 
weaker, — it will of course be that, but I say not merely 
that ; it should be such as will lead the child to weigh and 
consider, and finally to act from internal rather than ex- 
ternal impulse. One or two illustrations will suffice to 
make this point clear. When the parent gives his child a 
weekly allowance of money, and holds him strictly to it, 
he is training that child to self-control. For if he spends 
all his money on Monday for something that takes his 
fancy, and has to go without for the rest of the week, he 
will be more careful in spending his next week's allow- 
ance, thereby learning self-control. Another illustration 
is given in the chapter on " Cautions to Young Teachers " 
(p. 21). 1 The teacher trains the pupils to do right, not 
because it is according to the rule, but because it is right. 
Whenever the teacher places his pupils on their honor, he 
is training them to self-control. 

How to Teach Self -Control But how shall self-con- 
trol be taught to children ? Let me answer, — (1). Make 
the child feel the loss of the love of those dear to him, 

1 See also Chapter on " Good Order in the Schoolroom." 



SELF-EMPLOYMENT. I 8 5 

when he gives way to unbridled anger, to selfishness, or 
to other intemperate action. 

(2). Appeal to his sense of shame, and make him un- 
comfortable because of his wrong-doing. 

(3). When he is old enough, appeal to the fear of God, 
and the wrong in His sight, as a motive for abstaining 
from evil and as a reason for controlling himself. 

The faithful and patient use of these and similar measures 
will have the effect of giving children that perfect command 
over themselves which makes them urbane, self-possessed, 
thoughtful for others, and which establishes good character. 
It also furnishes them with a reserve force upon which 
they can call in case of emergency. 

The person who has learned self-control is able to look 
down from a bird's-eye view upon the individual desires, 
inclinations, and feelings, to weigh them by rational prin- 
ciples, and to allow or suppress their outward expression at 
will. To teach pupils this power is a most important end 
of education. " If I become enamored of the body and its 
ways, and of the subtleties of a fleeting bodily intelligence, 
I have forgotten to control these things ; and having for- 
gotten that I have a free will given me from heaven to rule 
what is mine, I am no longer a man but a beast. But 
while I, who am an immortal soul, command the perishable 
engine in which I dwell, I am in truth a man. For the 
soul is of God and forever, whereas the body is a thing of 
to-day that vanishes into dust to-morrow ; but the two to- 
gether are the living man. And thus it is that God is 
made man in us every day." 1 

Self -Employment. — The early common school of our 
country, with its untrained teacher, its large number of 

1 F. Marion Crawford. 



I 86 SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 

pupils, its scanty furnishings, and its few books, was never- 
theless not destitute of splendid products. It gave to the 
world Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, Franklin, Greeley, 
Clay, and hosts of others, who have wielded mighty power 
in the political, intellectual, and material progress of our 
land. The teacher had neither the ability nor the time to 
do much for these boys ; hence they were obliged to set 
themselves at work, to seek the truth through obscure 
paths and rough ways with but little help from the out- 
side. This experience doubtless made rugged, self-reliant, 
ambitious men. 

The Early Versus the Modern School Now, it is quite 

common to point to these illustrious examples, and draw 
the conclusion, that, as they came from the back-woods, 
ungraded, poorly equipped school, therefore such a school 
is the best if we are to produce great men. Such a con- 
clusion, however, is quite unwarranted, for the following 
reasons : 

i. If these men became illustrious under such limita- 
tions, is it not fair to suppose that they would have been 
more illustrious had they been favored with better school 
advantages? They became great in spite of rather than 
because of such limitations, for surely no one would say 
that the lack of facilities in the old-time school was a 
blessing. 

2. While no one would minimize the attainments of 
these wonderful men, it must not be forgotten that it is 
easier to rise above a low level of intellectual standards 
than above a high one, and that the standard is much 
higher now than it was half a century ago. A man may 
have much higher attainments now and still not be above 



THE EARLY VERSUS THE MODERN SCHOOL. 187 

the average of his contemporaries, and therefore not stand 
out with any degree of prominence. In a word, to stand 
out as a landmark requires far greater attainments than 
would have been necessary a hundred years ago. A pine 
tree standing in the midst of an open field is a conspicuous 
figure ; the same tree in the midst of other trees of the 
same kind in a forest would escape notice. 

3. We must wait a generation or two before we can 
properly estimate the men of to-day. Not one of the 
above named men was adequately appreciated while living. 
They were caricatured, ridiculed, maligned, hated, some of 
them even unto death. But posterity yields them the 
homage due them. It will be the same with great men 
now living, for we certainly have them. 

4. These men possessed the capacity, and were not to 
be denied, whatever the obstacles. Erasmus starved him- 
self in order to buy Greek books ; Lincoln had scarcely 
more than three books, — the Bible, ^Esop's Fables, and 
Pilgrim's Progress, but he committed to memory large 
parts of each of these ; Faraday, the newsboy and boot- 
black, read and studied in his stable-loft until he enlisted 
the interest of Sir Humphry Davy, who opened the way 
for him to become the greatest scientist of his age ; 
Franklin, when notified by his landlady that she could 
not longer furnish his gruel at the same price, replied, 
" Make it thinner," so poor was he and so eager for an 
education. These boys all possessed the capacity, and 
they set themselves at work with the means at their com- 
mand to accomplish their chosen ends. With this mar- 
velous capacity, and with the superior facilities of modern 
times, no man can tell what they might have attained. 

But in all of these cases we see that the power of self- 



I 88 SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 

direction and self-employment brought victory in spite of 
the obstacles. It may well be asked whether in our mod- 
ern plan of education we have not gone to the other 
extreme, and are carrying the child too much in our 
arms instead of teaching him to walk alone. We would 
not go back to the old-fashioned school ; but we would 
learn the lesson of self-employment which it certainly in- 
culcated, and find out how to adjust that idea to our im- 
proved schools and our extended means of education. 

Success in Life Success in life depends largely upon 

the ability one possesses to employ himself. Observe the 
" boss " of a gang of workmen, the head of a department in 
a store, the foreman in a great manufacturing concern, and 
you will find that every one of these men has risen to his 
position of responsibility and greater emolument because 
he knew how to set himself at work. Employers are on 
the alert to discover men capable of leadership. The world 
is full of common laborers, but there is always a scarcity of 
men who can lead and direct others. The young man who 
watches the clock or waits for the whistle that announces 
the hour of release, the man who is more alert in leaving 
business than in beginning it, is not the one who will get 
ahead in life. To such an employee the contract is merely 
so much money for so many hours in the shop without the 
slightest interest in the success of the business. I once 
called at a great wholesale house in Chicago to meet a 
young man who worked there. It was Saturday and the 
store closed at twelve o'clock. I asked a member of the 
firm for the young man ; and he told me that as it was near 
the hour of closing, my friend would soon be down. Turn- 
ing to the time-keeper, he said, " Who will be the first man 



SUCCESS IN LIFE. I 89 

out ? " " Irwin," was the reply. Just then the whistle 
blew ; and sure enough the first man to appear was my 
friend Irwin, who appeared in an incredibly short time con- 
sidering that he worked on the third floor and had to re- 
move his working clothes. The fact is, he had used his 
employer's time in getting ready to leave. A few months 
later, when business became dull, the first man to be dis- 
charged was Irwin ! 

My neighbor owns a fine estate, and wishes to employ a 
man to take care of his grounds. Now, there are two 
kinds of men that offer their services, — one kind consists 
of those who must be told each morning what to do ; the 
other kind consists of those who simply take charge of the 
premises, and need no telling. If the lawn needs to be 
mown, the gravel walk raked, the garden planted, the car- 
riage washed, they do not need to be told ; they see what 
is to be done and can set themselves to do it. Once more 
it is the power of self -employment. Now, there is no com- 
parison between these two classes of men as to their use- 
fulness and as to the value of their services. The latter 
carry responsibilities, thus relieving the owner of care and 
making his beautiful grounds an unalloyed pleasure to him. 
Is it not true that a large majority of those seeking em- 
ployment belong to the first class rather than to the sec- 
ond ? And has not the school something to answer for 
if such is the case ? 

Nor is this state of things confined to the male sex and 
out-of-door work. Every house-wife knows the value of 
help that can be depended upon to set themselves at work, 
as compared with those who must be told everything that 
is to be done. It is well known, also, how discouragingly 
scarce the former are. Once more, I think the school has 



190 



SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 



a responsibility in this matter. We must teach our pupils 
habits of industry ; we must imbue them with the thought 
that honest labor is not demeaning ; we must instil into 
them the idea that the interests of the employer and em- 
ployee are common, and that when they engage their ser- 
vice it pays to give it with fullest zeal and singleness of 
purpose ; we must impress upon them that the surest road 
to ultimate success is not found in giving the least possi- 
ble service which will pass muster, but in giving their best 
without regard to the remuneration. The future will 
bring its just reward. These are the lessons which our 
American boys and girls should learn, and the school must 
teach them. 

Not long ago a merchant said to me, " It is pitiful what 
kind of service we get from our clerks. Their idea is to 
do the least possible work for their pay, and they wonder 
why they are not advanced. Why, if they will earn twenty 
dollars a week, I had rather pay that than ten. The surest 
way for them to get the advance is to be worthy of it." If 
instead of doing the least they can, of waiting to be told 
what to do, they would have their eyes open for work to do, 
would employ themselves, their advancement would be sure. 

Now, this is a very practical treatment of the subject. I 
mean to be practical. One has only to observe life, public 
as well as private, to discover the need of such lessons. 
The trouble with us is not lack of ambition, lack of ability, 
or lack of enterprise, but lack of the power of self -employ- 
ment. Rosenkranz illustrates this idea when he speaks of 
apprenticeship, journeymanship, and mastership as three 
stages of development. The apprentice is the mere learner, 
the journeyman has learned his" trade but must work under 
a leader, while the master has learned not only to direct 



MORAL ASPECT. 



19 



himself, but to direct others. Some one has put the 
thought very forcibly as follows : 

" Who shall pupil be ? Every one. 
Who shall craftsman be? 
Who good work has done. 
Who shall master be? 
He who thought has won." 

Moral Aspect. — There is a moral side to this question 
worth considering. Our working people are asking for 
and securing shorter hours of service. This makes the 
need of the lesson I am trying to teach all the greater, 
for but little evil is possible during the eight or ten hours 
that a man is employed. It is what he does while unem- 
ployed, where he spends his leisure time, that largely 
determines his moral attitude. Does he read or study, is 
he interested in religious or philanthropic activities, or 
has he some means of self-employment when his working 
hours are over ? Or does time hang heavily on his hands 
so that he must needs visit the saloon, the gambling-den, 
or some other place of excitement ? It is a very unhappy 
condition when a young man is not equipped with the 
means of employing himself during his leisure. Provide 
men with this power and more will be done to close the 
dram-shop than by any other means, for they will be 
able to satisfy their own activities without seeking these 
places. 

Upon the teacher, then, rests a great and important 
responsibility. From the outset the training in self-con- 
trol and self -employment should be systematic and per- 
sistent ; and when the child leaves school, whether it be in 
his early teens or later, if he has learned these lessons he 



I92 SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT. 

has learned more than the whole curriculum, more than 
the contents of books — for these will be within his future 
mastery — he has learned the most necessary and most 
valuable things that the school can teach, and possesses 
the vital elements necessary for success in life. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE TEACHING OF PATRIOTISM. 

Patriotism has been denned as devotion to one's coun- 
try. In the light of this definition we may well ask 
whether our schools are doing their best in training 
patriotic citizens. It may be well to analyze the meaning 
of the expression "devotion to one's country," and seri- 
ously consider whether or not we Americans possess it. 

Boastf ulness. — If the disposition to boast of our great- 
ness marks it, surely no nation under the sun is more 
patriotic. Meet an American in a foreign land and you 
are pretty sure to find a man who minimizes what he sees 
there, and magnifies what he has left at home. There is 
the well-known story of the man who after listening to 
a glowing account of the grandeur of an eruption of 
Vesuvius, replied, "Why, sir, that is nothing; we have a 
Niagara that would put out your Vesuvius in a minute ! " 
If our countryman hears a word in praise of the beauties 
of the Rhine or the Danube, he declaims at once concern- 
ing the greater beauties of the Hudson, the Delaware, or 
the Columbia. Does he stand upon the Rigi, the Pilatus, 
or Mont Blanc, and view the marvelous landscapes stretch- 
ing out before his vision, he is sure that Mount Wash- 
ington, or Pike's Peak, or Mount Hood offers far more 
extended views and far more beautiful scenery. He sin- 

i93 



194 



THE TEACHING OF PATRIOTISM. 



cerely believes that our trains run faster, our steamboats 
are more elegant, our buildings taller, our commerce more 
extensive, our business methods more rapid, our govern- 
ment freer, our institutions of learning better, our religion 
purer, than in any other country on God's great footstool. 
Now, he is right in some of these things, and in some of 
them he is not right. But right or wrong there is no 
reason for the American citizen to make himself ridiculous 
by boasting of these matters when abroad, nor is he any 
better patriot because he does it. "I am an American," 
remarked a man somewhat loftily to an intelligent German 
in Berlin. " North America or South America ? " asked 
the Teuton. Imagine the chagrin of our fellow-citizen to 
whom there is only one " America," namely, the United 
States, to be thought of in connection with the countries 
of South America S 

So boasting, whether at home or abroad, is not a sign of 
"devotion to one's country." We must have better evi- 
dences of patriotism than this, and we would do well to 
cultivate less of this characteristic and more of the genuine 
article. 

Partisanship. — Patriotism does not mean partisanship. 
Not that a man should not love his party and endeavor to 
bring about its success. He believes that a certain party 
can best administer the government of this country and 
accordingly attaches himself to it. In a sense, then, he is 
a partisan, and must remain so as long as he believes that 
his party is true to the trust he places in it. It is through 
parties that our government is carried on, as well as all 
constitutional governments, and it is not unpatriotic to 
stand by a party that you believe in. Andrew Jackson, 



PATRIOTISM IN TIME OF DANGER. 



l 95 



and Abraham Lincoln, and Horace Greeley were partisans ; 
but they loved their country and were willing to sacrifice 
themselves in devotion to her interests. But patriotism 
does not mean partisanship in the extreme sense. For 
instance, I once heard a man say, " I would vote for the 
devil if he were nominated by my party." I think one of 
the best evidences of an increase in true patriotism in our 
country is the fact that the independent voter is increas- 
ing in numbers, and has to be reckoned with in every 
political campaign. At no time in the history of our 
country has the bond of party allegiance set so loosely 
upon voters as at the present time. Is it not because 
patriotism and not partisanship is the controlling force ? 

Patriotism in Time of Danger Patriotism requires the 

citizen to be ready to spring to arms or otherwise conse- 
crate himself to the welfare of his country in time of dan- 
ger. In our Civil War many a man who stayed at home 
showed as great sacrifice for his country as those who 
went to the front. They showed it by work on sanitary 
commissions, by the contribution of money, by upholding 
loyalty in their communities, and by their prayers. They 
were as truly patriots as if they had gone to the front, 
provided there were good and sufficient reasons for their 
staying at home. There are some things that require 
more courage than is needed in the excitement of battle. 
Mr. Churchill illustrates that in his "Crisis," where he 
makes W. T. Sherman stay at home in the early part of 
the war. I think no one would say that the men who 
rushed to the front when President Lincoln issued his first 
call for seventy-five thousand troops were more patriotic 
than those who answered the call for six hundred thousand 



196 THE TEACHING OF PATRIOTISM. 

later in the war. Indeed, the former were largely men 
who were eager for adventure, rather than moved by a 
patriotic spirit, while the latter were serious men who ap- 
preciated the colossal task undertaken, and who knew that 
the very existence of the nation was at stake. 

Patriotism in Time of Peace Many persons think that 

patriotism finds its expression almost wholly in the readi- 
ness to fight for one's country. If so, a whole generation 
might pass without an opportunity to show its patriotism. 
Until the late Spanish War, which gave only a few of our 
people opportunity to fight, a third of a century had passed 
without war, and no man under fifty years of age had been 
called to arms. The same is true of France, Germany, 
Italy, and practically true of all civilized nations. Thank 
God, this test of patriotism is less and less frequently 
made, and will continue to be so until there are neither 
"wars nor rumors of wars." 

The Duty of the School But patriotism does not wait 

for war ; it is far more important that it should exhibit 
itself in times of peace. How shall this be done ? I an- 
swer (1), by obedience to the laws of the land. The law- 
breaker is not a patriot, for he brings the nation to open 
shame. Thus if riots, or lynchings, or mob violence, or 
other criminal practices are prevalent in the community, it 
puts our authorities to shame, and leads the world to chal- 
lenge the success of government by the people. There- 
fore, in the broadest sense, those who do not keep the law 
are unpatriotic ; and the school that by insisting upon obedi- 
ence within its limits teaches wholesome respect for law, is 
teaching patriotism. This certainly is an important duty 
of the school. 



TEACH THE THEORY OF OUR GOVERNMENT. 



197 



(2), Teach the Theory of our Government. — Children 
should be taught the theory and plan of our government. 
Hence the necessity of civics in our school courses, and it 
should be given in a practical and elementary manner to 
pupils very early in the course. Every teacher should be 
informed on the duties of citizenship with reference to city 
or local government, the state, and the nation, and should 
by frequent talks, if not by set lessons, instruct his pupils in 
the same. This is within the possibilities of every country 
school and every teacher ; and it would do more to stimu- 
late patriotism in its best sense than a foreign war would 
do, for it would be permanent, intelligent, and moral. 
Not merely how to vote, or how the various officers of the 
government are elected, but the functions and duties of 
each office should be known. Then, I think, there will be 
less complaint of neglect of the duties of citizenship, and 
office-holders will be held to a stricter account because the 
mass of citizens know what they have a right to expect of 
those they elect to office. 

Well does Governor Odell say, " Our government can 
be no purer than a majority of its citizens. When we 
find those to whom right of control has been given actuated 
by pure impulses in administration of their trust then we 
find government by the people in the highest state of per- 
fection. But when we find, on the contrary, parents 
teaching their children that politics is degrading, that it is 
disreputable to government and that to be known as a 
politician is to lower one's self in the estimation of one's 
friends, then the seed of careless disregard for our institu- 
tions is sown and the harvest will be disaster to our 
republic." 

As every one shares the responsibility of government in 



I98 THE TEACHING OF PATRIOTISM. 

this land of ours, what more patriotic duty can rest upon 
the school than that of training for citizenship in this 
special sense ? We cannot escape politics if we are to do 
our duty, and if our nation is to be preserved. Interest in 
politics in the sense I mean is patriotism, because it is 
"devotion to one's country," and readiness to sacrifice per- 
sonal ease and individual interest for the good of fatherland. 
If this spirit is inculcated misrule in our municipalities and 
" bossism " in party life will disappear, and the charge 
that "American municipal government is a failure" will 
no longer be made. 

(3), Patriotic Songs and Sentiments. — The school 
should teach patriotic songs and sentiment far more than 
at present. We have made great progress in this respect 
during the last few years. We have placed the American 
flag on our schoolhouses, some of us know the words of 
"America," we study the Constitution of the United 
States in our higher schools, and we hold special exercises 
on patriotic holidays. Still, I doubt whether the average 
American boy thinks of the Fourth of July other than as a 
day when he is allowed to burn powder at will, set fire to 
a few buildings, blow out eyes, and make a general nui- 
sance of himself. Only last Fourth of July a boy thought 
I was depriving him of young America's rights because I 
made him stop firing a cannon from my doorstep after he 
had fired it off for several hours. I had had enough, even 
if it dampened the youngster's "patriotism." The fact is, 
there was no patriotism about it. It was as much the 
gratification of selfishness as in the case of the man who 
goes on his regular Fourth of July drunk. 

Every child should be taught " America," " The Star 



A NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN GERMANY 



199 



Spangled Banner," "The Red, White and Blue," and 
other national hymns and poems. Quotations from the 
speeches of Washington, Webster, Clay, Lincoln, Garfield, 
and McKinley should be selected and committed to mem- 
ory. National events, such as the battles of Lexington, 
Bunker Hill, Lake Erie, Gettysburg, Appomattox, Manila, 
and Santiago should be noted, as well as other great 
events in our history. These lessons must be taught on 
special anniversaries, but they must not be left to these 
alone. 

A National Holiday in Germany. — I once witnessed 
the celebration of the great national holiday in Germany, 
the second of September, the anniversary of the fall of 
Sedan. For days and weeks the children of all the schools 
were drilled in " Die Wacht am Rhein," " Deutschland, 
Deutschland, liber alles," and other national hymns, as 
well as the most important events in German history, and 
facts that make Germany great and glorious. On the 
morning in question all the schools assembled in a public 
square, and formed a procession to march to one of the 
parks. The girls were dressed in white and wore a laurel 
wreath upon their heads, while the boys wore the cap and 
such uniform as distinguished their school. With bands 
of music and banners flying they marched to the park, 
where the day was spent in singing their glorious songs, 
playing games with their teachers, and thoroughly enjoy- 
ing themselves. Imagine the noble "Watch on the 
Rhine " sung by three thousand children ! In the even- 
ing the adult male population, after a parade, assembled at 
a large hall where patriotic orations were delivered, toasts 
offered, and national songs sung. I feel sure that such 



200 THE TEACHING OF PATRIOTISM. 

a day does not fail to elevate the standard of patriotism 
and foster a love of country. 

Patriotism Creates High Ideals — Patriotism must create 
high ideals. Let me quote from the eloquent words of 
George H. Martin. " The new patriotism will return to 
the old standards. It will insist, that, if it is culpable 
to go into politics to serve selfish ends, it is still more 
culpable to stay out for selfish ends. If juries are packed, 
and so justice perverted ; if votes are sold, and so elections 
purchased ; if bribes are received, and so legislation is 
made corrupt ; if public business is in the hands of spoils- 
men, the blame will be laid at the door of the good men 
who allow it to be so." 

" By this standard will the patriotism of men be meas- 
ured. Are they willing, for the public good — for coun- 
try's sake — to sacrifice private interests of time, and 
money, and thought ; to sink partisan prejudices, and to 
unite with other men similarly inclined in an alliance, 
offensive and defensive, for good government, pure govern- 
ment, business government ? " 

"The spirit that rebels to-day, and declares its inde- 
pendence of saloon rule, and corporate rule, and boss rule, 
is the spirit of '76 arming itself with twentieth-century 
weapons for twentieth century conflict." 

Patriotism and the Public Schools If this kind of 

patriotism is to be fostered in our land, it must come 
through the great body of teachers in our public schools. 
It must begin early, for the great mass of children leave 
school before they reach their teens. It will never be 
taught in the highest and best sense if not taught by the 



PATRIOTISM AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 201 

teachers of the public schools, who reach this vast body 
of children. Therefore, as they love God, and home, and 
country, and as they pray, and hope, and labor for the 
glory of our great country and its noble institutions, I 
summon the teachers to this great work. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

INSPIRATION FROM THE LIVES OF GREAT EDUCATORS. 

There are moments in the life of every teacher that are 
full of discouragement. Perhaps the day has been rainy 
and cheerless, the children have been restless and irritable, 
and the teacher goes to his home with the feeling that the 
day has been a failure. Then is the time when many a 
teacher is led seriously to question whether he has not 
mistaken his calling, whether it were not better to seek 
some other work. I suppose every employment in life has 
its peculiar discouragements, and every man sometimes 
thinks that he has heavier crosses to bear than any one 
else has. I do not know that the perplexities of the school- 
room are any greater than those of other vocations. We 
should not forget this when we are troubled over our work. 

Encouragement for Teachers But I am trying to help 

teachers, my colleagues, in the work of training the young. 
In the quiet of one's home may not the lives of those who 
have influenced education furnish inspiration and help to 
the young teacher in his hour of trouble ? I have found 
in my own experience that the study of these men has 
been a great comfort to me ; for they, too, had their trials 
and their discouragements ; they, too, were often unappreci- 
ated, neglected, and sometimes despised. No young 
teacher can afford to be without a knowledge of these 

202 



ERASMUS. 



203 



men, or to forego the inspiration they give. There are no 
difficulties that confront us, no evils with which we have to 
contend, no discouragements that baffle us and sap our 
enthusiasm, which have not been met and successfully 
overcome by those whom the world recognizes as its 
greatest educators and noblest benefactors. 

Just as an officer in the army studies the deeds of 
Caesar, Wellington, Napoleon, Washington, or von Moltke 
in order to become a master of military tactics, or a navy 
officer reads the lives of Nelson, Perry, or Farragut to 
become familiar with naval warfare, so the teachers must 
know Roger Ascham, Montaigne, Comenius, Pestalozzi, 
Froebel, and Horace Mann, and their work. I desire, 
therefore, to present brief sketches of the lives of some 
teachers, giving especial attention to the difficulties they 
surmounted and the lessons to be drawn therefrom. 

Erasmus. — Erasmus of Rotterdam was a precocious 
child, and it was early predicted of him that he would be a 
great man — a prediction which he fully verified. Left an 
orphan at an early age, he fell into the hands of dishonest 
guardians who cheated him out of his small patrimony. 
He was educated in a monastery and became a monk, 
although he took the vows with great reluctance. He 
studied in the University of Paris, but was so poor that he 
was obliged to supplement his slender means by tutoring 
and by giving lectures. • His craving for learning was such 
that he preferred to go hungry and ill-clothed in order to 
buy Greek books. After completing his course at Paris, 
he studied at Oxford and later at Turin, where he took the 
degree of Doctor of Divinity. 

Erasmus disliked the priestly office ; and although many 



204 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

high positions in the Church were tendered him, he 
declined them all in order that he might be an inde- 
pendent man of letters. The summit of his ambition 
was reached when he came to be recognized as the 
greatest literary authority in the world, an eminence not 
disputed by any one, and from the enjoyment of which 
nothing could attract Erasmus. It is not as a teacher 
that this great man gained the distinction of being 
classed as one of the world's educators, but as an author 
and as a leader in the humanistic movement. Located 
at Basel, the center of the new printing industry, he 
published many books. Gutenberg had invented print- 
ing only thirteen years before the birth of Erasmus ; 
and the new art, which had become established, was 
utilized by the great scholar to disseminate his own 
literary productions as well as those which he brought 
forth from the archives of the monasteries and rescued 
from oblivion. No one can estimate the mighty impulse 
in intellectual matters given to the world by this act 
of Erasmus. He thus became an educator in the largest 
and most important sense. 

His Pedagogy. — Nor did he fail to contribute to the 
literature of education. Some of his teachings are incor- 
porated into the educational philosophy of the present 
time, and are a part of the school practices. Let me indi- 
cate a few of his teachings which are common sense and 
pedagogical, (i). The mother is the natural educator of 
the child in its early years. The mother who does not 
care for the education of her children is only half a 
mother. (2). Until the seventh year the child should be 
allowed to develop physically. This is done chiefly by play. 
The child must also be taught politeness. (3). Teachers 



LUTHER. 



205 



should be trained and well paid, and the school-houses 
should be comfortable and hygienic. (4). Religion is a 
part of education that cannot be neglected. (5). The 
home is the place where the foundation of all training of 
children must be laid ; and the most important lesson for 
children to learn is obedience. (6). Girls should be pro- 
tected from contamination, should be guarded from idle- 
ness ; and the religious feelings should be inculcated in 
them. There is a great deal of educational philosophy 
in the teachings of Erasmus which parents as well as 
teachers might indeed ponder over. A careful study of 
the life of this great man cannot fail to be both profitable 
and inspiring. 

Luther Contemporary with but very different in 

character and purpose from Erasmus was Martin Luther. 
The former appealed to the limited few, the latter to the 
masses ; Erasmus was a man of reflection, Luther a man 
of action ; Erasmus sought to influence the educated and 
higher classes, Luther the common people. 

Luther sprang from the lowest ranks of life, was 
brought up in penury and inured to hardship, and he 
never forgot his humble origin. He was not ashamed to 
say, " I am a peasant's son ; my father, grandfather, and 
remote ancestors were nothing but veritable peasants." 
When but a boy he sang for alms in the streets of 
Eisenach, and the sweetness of his voice attracted a 
wealthy lady who gave him shelter and assistance in his 
struggle for an education. Many great men have passed 
through a similar experience and thereby have learned 
perseverance, industry, self-reliance, and abstinence, — 
wholesome lessons very essential to success. 



2o6 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

As an Educator. — Luther is best known in history in 
connection with the great German Reformation, but it is 
not this side of his work that I wish to consider ; it is his 
work as an educator from which lessons are here to be 
drawn. Doubtless he saw that the success of his religious 
work largely depended upon the elevation of the masses 
through education, and therefore he translated the Bible 
into their tongue, and began to establish common schools 
for the people in order that they might read the Word of 
God. 

Luther held that parents are responsible for the educa- 
tion of their children, that the state has a right to compel 
attendance at school, that education must be practical, — 
must fit for life, — boys being required to learn a trade, and 
girls the duties of the house-wife. He taught that teaching 
is a- noble profession and therefore the teacher must be 
trained. He recognized that every child has a right to 
be educated and that the state must provide the means 
to that end. While the church had done a noble work 
for education during the middle ages, it could only pro- 
vide for the few. The state alone possesses the means 
for universal education, and Luther maintained that 
the time had come when the state must undertake that 
work. 

These are the principles that Martin Luther advocated ; 
and not only Germany, but most of the civilized world are 
reaping the benefits of his wisdom and foresight. Teach- 
ers will find in a study of his educational work the sug- 
gestion of many of the practices of to-day which have 
become common-place through our familiarity with them, 
and yet they are the result of the insight and wisdom of 
this man who taught nearly four centuries ago, 



FENELON. 207 

Fenelon 1 desire to present this name to my readers 

chiefly because of his remarkable success in dealing with a 
bad boy. When thirty-eight years of age he was placed 
in charge of the Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of 
Louis XIV. This lad was eight years old when Fenelon 
began his work with him ; and he was already a " spoiled 
child/' being headstrong and passionate. " He would 
break the clocks which summoned him to unwelcome duty, 
and fly into the wildest rage with the rain which hindered 
some pleasure." Compayre, in speaking of Fenelon' s 
work with this boy, says, " From 1689 to 1695, he directed 
with marvelous success the education of a prince, * a born 
terror,' as Saint Simon expressed it, but who, under the 
penetrating influence of his master, became an accom- 
plished man, almost a saint. It was for his royal pupil 
that he composed, one after another, a large number of 
educational works, such as the ' Collection of Fables,' the 
' Dialogues of the Dead,' the treatise on 'The Existence 
of God,' and especially the ' Telemachus,' one of the 
most popular works in French literature." Happy the 
teacher who possesses the ability and ingenuity to interest 
such a child and lead him into a right life. 

His Method. — From his " Telemachus," Fenelon taught 
his pupil morals and politics ; with the " Dialogues of the 
Dead," he taught history ; and with his " Fables," intellec- 
tual and also moral instruction was imparted. This teacher 
employed such consummate skill in imparting his lessons 
that his pupil, instead of being angered by the application 
of the stories to himself, which was apparent, became 
ashamed of his actions and began to correct them. Thus 
gradually his temper was brought under control, his out- 
bursts of passion were less frequent, while he became 



208 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

docile and obedient. The patience and skill of Fenelon in 
dealing with this boy are most commendable, and a study of 
his plan would surely be helpful to the perplexed teacher. 
Fenelon' s " Education of Girls " has been pronounced "the 
first educational classic in the French language." 

Comenius In the life and work of Comenius we find 

many lessons of encouragement and profit. Here was a 
man who was neglected in early life, persecuted for his 
religious belief, banished forever from his native land, 
several times reduced to absolute penury, and to whose 
lot was appointed more than the usual amount of suffering 
that falls to mankind. And yet he persevered in his 
education though late begun ; when excluded from his own 
country he sought to make himself a blessing to the 
strangers that sheltered him ; home and property and valu- 
able manuscripts twice destroyed by fire, he bravely began 
again ; wife and children dead, forsaken of friends, yet 
with a sublime resignation he faltered not, but succeeded 
in making for himself a name that will live for all time. 

By his books, the " Great Didactic," the " Orbis Pictus," 
the " Gate of Tongues Unlocked," by his work in organiz- 
ing school systems, and promulgating educational theories, 
Comenius came to be the best known and most sought for 
educator of the seventeenth century. His fame spread 
and his influence was felt in Poland, Sweden, Holland, 
England, and America while he yet lived, while now, at 
the beginning of the twentieth century, it reaches where- 
ever there is intelligent teaching, and wherever the method 
of instruction " follows the order of nature." He gave 
explicit directions as to methods of instruction, class- 
management, discipline, courses of study, and moral and 



FRANCKE. 



209 



religious teachings. His principles and precepts are the 
most remarkable to be found in educational literature. 

Francke Perhaps among the least known of the great 

educators who have influenced modern educational thought 
is August Hermann Francke. I have in mind at this 
moment one of the most touching representations in 
marble that I ever saw, though it is fifteen years or more 
since I saw it. It is a life-size figure of Francke standing 
with his hand upon the head of a little child. This work 
of art was erected in memory of a man who gave him- 
self to childhood, who loved little children as the Great 
Master loved them, and who consecrated himself primarily 
to the welfare of the poor and the fatherless. This monu- 
ment is erected in a square surrounded by the noble insti- 
tutions which Francke had founded nearly two hundred 
years ago. If ever a man was worthy of a statue in com- 
memoration of deeds for the benefit of mankind, that man 
was August Hermann Francke, and no more fitting monu- 
ment could be erected than the simple, unostentatious 
figure placed in the midst of the great buildings at Halle, 
known as the " Institutions," or sometimes called the 
orphan asylum. This group, however, is more than an 
orphan asylum, as we shall see later. 

Francke was born in Lubeck in 1663. His father was 
a lawyer of considerable note, and his mother belonged 
to one of the most respected families of that part of 
Germany. His education during his early years was con- 
ducted by a private tutor directly under the eyes of his 
parents. Here, surrounded by most wholesome and pious 
influences, the boy spent the first thirteen years of his 
life, after which he entered the highest class of the 



2IO INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

Gymnasium at Gotha where he remained a single year. 
In his sixteenth year he entered the university as a student 
of theology, but he did not confine himself to the study of 
theology, as he mastered English, French, Italian, Hebrew, 
and Greek. He seems to have been especially gifted in 
acquiring languages, having learned the Dutch tongue so 
well in a few weeks while in Holland that he was able to 
preach in that tongue. 

In the mean time, the deep religious experiences of his 
early life at home under his mother's and sister's influence 
began to seek expression. Moved by an ardent desire to 
do good, he began preaching at Erfurt, where his labor 
was attended with remarkable success. 

His fame was such that in 1692, when twenty-nine 
years of age, he was called to the new university at Halle, 
where he entered upon a work which continued for thirty- 
six years, until his death. His salary as professor was so 
small that he was obliged to seek outside work in order to 
eke out a living. This hardship to Francke proved to be 
a great blessing to mankind, for he took the pastorate of 
a poor people in the outlying village of Glaucha, and 
while ministering to them his great heart opened to their 
distresses. In witnessing their poverty, drunkenness, and 
immorality, he was moved to seek a means for their 
redemption and that of their children. It is the practice 
in Germany to have collection boxes placed in the vesti- 
bule of the church, or even outside in front. Thus, as the 
people leave the church they drop in such free-will offer- 
ings as they choose without solicitation or importunity. 
One Easter Sunday Francke found seven guldens ($2.80) 
in the collection boxes, which he pronounced " A splendid 
capital with which something of importance can be founded; 



FRANCKE. 2 I 1 

I will begin a school for the poor with it." This was in 
1695. With this small beginning, but with a sublime 
faith in God and with an overwhelming sense of the great 
need of the children about him, Francke undertook a work 
that has been a blessing to thousands of his fellow beings, 
and that has made his name immortal. 

The Orphan Asylum. — Already in his lifetime the 
" Institutions " at Halle had attracted wide attention, so 
much so that King Frederick William I. of Prussia and 
many leading philanthropists, educators, and scholars had 
become interested. Among the buildings erected during 
his life were the following : A main building for an orphan 
asylum, various schools, etc. ; a dining-hall where free meals 
were given to inmates and poor students ; an assembly 
room ; a boarding-hall, and dwellings for teachers and 
students who assisted in teaching ; a pedagogium ; numer- 
ous buildings for tradesmen, workmen, and others employed 
in the institution ; a hospital, a library, and a Bible house. 
All this in a space of but a third of a century and with 
only $2.80 to start with ! It is one of the most mar- 
velous exhibitions that history has ever recorded, of what 
a consecrated man imbued with a mighty faith in God 
can do. 

I have said that his work attracted wide-spread atten- 
tion. Upon Francke's death an official report was made 
to the king, showing that more than 3,200 persons already 
had found shelter, instruction, or employment in the 
"Institutions" at Halle. 

This work has continued to grow from that time to this, 
and it has been one of the greatest and most beneficent 
enterprises that the world has ever seen. The Bible 
house has distributed about 6,500,000 Bibles and religious 



212 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

works, and about 118,000 persons have been recipients of 
the benefits of these " Institutions " since Francke founded 
them two hundred years, ago. 

The work above described must be in itself of great 
interest to teachers ; but there is another feature of 
Francke's activity which is of still deeper interest to those 
engaged in educational work, and that is his plan for 
training teachers. Up to this time but little had been 
done systematically to prepare the teacher for his work. 
Like many other thinkers, Francke recognized the woe- 
fully bad practices of the schoolroom and the fearful waste 
in the matter of teaching. But it was necessity that com- 
pelled him to organize a teachers' class in his institution 
rather than a carefully outlined plan of a teachers' semi- 
nary, or a recognition of the need of a system of pedagogy. 
I think that he must be remembered chiefly as a philan- 
thropist rather than as the author of a system of pedagogy, 
though his writings in the latter field are not without 
value. 

The necessity which compelled Francke to organize a 
teachers' class was this : As he gathered great numbers 
of poor children into his institution, he found himself 
without teachers and without means. He therefore con- 
ceived the idea of employing students, principally theo- 
logical, to teach in payment of their university expenses. 
The next step was the establishment of a pedagogical class 
{Pedagogium), in which the student received a two years' 
pedagogical training, in return for which he obligated him- 
self to teach not less than three years in the schools. 
Francke's pedagogical class had many of the features 
of the modern normal school. There was practice work 
under criticism, frequent discussion of school questions, and 



PESTALOZZI. 213 

definite pedagogical instruction by the head of the institu- 
tion. In this organization we find the inception, though 
crude, of the later systematic, methodical teachers' train- 
ing-school. Everyone now recognizes the necessity of 
this feature of a school system, but an appreciation of this 
need was not felt two hundred years ago ; hence the 
greater credit is due to Francke for his wisdom and 
foresight. 

As the young teachers from Halle went out over all 
Germany, they met with such success as to attract wide- 
spread attention to the institution from which they came. 
Many visited Halle, and educators began to turn their 
attention to the founding of teachers' seminaries and the 
better preparation of the instructors of youth. Thus was 
born the Normal school in Germany. The world may 
well be thankful that this devoted man was compelled to 
seek work outside of the university, which brought him 
into contact with the poor and lowly. No teacher can 
read the life of Francke without obtaining a deeper sense 
of the importance of his own work, without receiving an 
inspiring sense of the possibilities of great faith accom- 
panied by works, and without acquiring a greater love for 
humanity. 

Pestalozzi No other teacher that ever lived furnishes 

such a pathetic picture as Pestalozzi presents in his own 
experiences and his own life. His early history has been 
so often told that we may pass by the details, and turn at 
once to the enterprises upon which he entered. The 
whole purpose of his life was to be a blessing to his fellow- 
men, and he believed that this could best be furthered by 
devoting himself to the Christian ministry. Doubtless the 



214 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

simple and useful life of his grandfather had much to do 
with Pestalozzi's choice of the sacred calling. He soon 
found out, however, that he had made a mistake, as he 
failed in his first sermon, and forgot the Lord's Prayer. 
Accordingly, he gave up the ministry and devoted himself 
to the law. This was neither for glory nor for wealth. 
The motive was the same that actuated him to enter 
the ministry namely, to help his fellow-beings. He saw 
the Swiss peasantry being cheated and imposed upon be- 
cause of their ignorance, and prepared himself to be their 
champion in legal matters. Kriisi thinks that Pestalozzi 
learned " the insufficiency of human legislation to do away 
with abuses, unless supported by principles of charity and 
justice," and therefore he also gave up the study of the law. 

His next enterprise was farming, by which he hoped to 
show the poor peasants improved methods of farming in 
order that their condition might be bettered. This proved 
a total loss to himself as well as to the friends who had 
given him financial support. It was not an entire failure by 
any means, though a financial failure. At this farm called 
Neuhoff, Pestalozzi established an "industrial school for 
the poor," which was "the first school of its kind ever con- 
ceived and the mother of hundreds now existing on both 
sides of the Atlantic." This school had its discourage- 
ments. Pestalozzi fed, clothed, housed, and taught the 
children, and in return had them assist in the work of the 
farm. But the children were lazy and shiftless, while 
their parents actually demanded pay of Pestalozzi for the 
services of their children on the farm. 

His Writings. — Thus far Pestalozzi's life had met 
nothing but failure. In extreme poverty he turned his 
attention to authorship. His most celebrated books are 



PESTALOZZI. 



2I 5 



" Leonard and Gertrude," and " How Gertrude Teaches 
Her Children ; " and these made him famous. In these 
books he presents in a homely and touching manner the 
life of the lowly, and shows how they are elevated by edu- 
cation, as well as the method by which this is done. 

Pestalozzi was fifty-three years old when he became a 
teacher, an age at which most men who ever achieve suc- 
cess have already attained it ; and yet his most important 
and valuable service to the world was done after the time 
when men begin to think of closing their career. Con- 
cerning this period of Pestalozzi's life Kriisi says, "Let 
those who witness the mighty changes that have taken 
place in education pay grateful tribute to the man who 
first took up arms against the hollow systems of the old 
school routine, and who showed the path to those delight- 
ful regions of thought, in whose well-tilled soil rich harvests 
will ever be reaped by the patient laborer. To the philan- 
thropist and friend of education, Stanz will always be a 
hallowed spot, exhibiting, as it does, the picture of this 
venerable teacher sitting among the outcast children, 
animated by the very spirit of Christ, and by a great idea 
which not only filled his own soul, but inspired those who 
witnessed his labors." 

I have not space to follow Pestalozzi's fortunes from 
Stanz to Burgdorf, and from there to Yverdon. Each of 
these places — Neuhoff, Stanz, Burgdorf, Yverdon — will 
ever be associated with this great teacher's name and work, 
and will never cease to be dear to the heart of every one 
called to the work of teaching little children, because they 
harbored, even for a short time, — sometimes not very 
hospitably, it is true, the man who did so much for the 
education of all future generations. 



21 6 INSPIRATION FROM GREAT EDUCATORS. 

The life of Pestalozzi cannot fail to help the discouraged 
teacher. With sublime faith he rose above failure until he 
found his mission, namely, that of a school-teacher. Even 
here he met with discouragement, and yet he persevered. 
What a lesson to every teacher ! His greatest lesson is 
that of love. Love for humanity, love for the lowly and 
distressed, love for children, was the great motive that 
actuated him. We can forgive his mistakes when we 
remember this motive. By the spirit that moved him, by 
the method he employed, by a life of disappointment and 
apparent failure, by the appreciation of his service after he 
was gone, by the accelerated growth of his teachings 
throughout the world, I think that John Henry Pestalozzi 
more closely resembles the Great Teacher than any other 
man who has ever lived. Well, therefore, is he worthy of 
study and imitation. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

Moral Teachers There is scarcely any systematic 

moral instruction given in the schools of our country. I 
do not mean, of course, that there is no moral instruction 
given, I am laying emphasis on systematic instruction. 
Our schools are the most potent factor that the com- 
munity possesses in inculcating morals among the children. 
In many homes there is little or no moral training, while 
the church does not reach the majority of the children. 
The moral instruction of the school centers around the 
personality of the teacher, and our country is to be con- 
gratulated upon a corps of public school-teachers whose 
lives are consistent and whose influence is conspicuous for 
good. Indeed, it is very rare that a member of our pro- 
fession is accused of crime, or is guilty of immoral acts. 
That is certainly saying a great deal for those who are 
shaping the lives of the future generations ; but it is no 
more than is demanded, for the harm that a peccant 
teacher can do is greater than that of an unrighteous 
preacher. Because of the high moral character of teachers, 
a high standard of morals is attained in the schools. 

This is as it should be, but it does not discharge the 
whole duty of the school to the child. There must be 
systematic moral training. I do not mean by this that the 

217 



21 8 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

teacher shall set apart a period of the day in which morality 
is taught, just as there is a period set apart for arithmetic 
or geography. The children would soon come to look 
upon this as the period when they were to be preached to, 
and would fortify themselves against the good influences 
sought for. I mean that the teacher should feel the im- 
portance of definite moral instruction ; should have it con- 
stantly before him as the highest end to be sought ; should 
not forget that with the moral side neglected, the more 
education possessed, the worse for the child ; and, there- 
fore, should seek to shape everything, — all discipline, the 
surroundings, the whole spirit of the school, toward the one 
supreme end, moral character. I want the teacher to 
watch the tendencies of his school as a whole, and also 
those of the individual child. I want him to study the 
evils manifested, and seek to eradicate them by constant, 
systematic, persevering watchfulness. In a word, I do 
not want the teacher to feel that the end of education is 
reached by securing perfect recitations in reading, arith- 
metic, and geography ; but that these are means to an end, 
which with every act of discipline, with the whole of the 
life of the school, under the guiding hand of the conse- 
crated teacher, culminates in moral manhood and woman- 
hood. In that sense moral instruction should be systematic. 
As I desire to be helpful to the teacher and not simply 
theoretical, let us notice some of the commonest incidents 
of the school, and point out their bearing upon morals. 

Schoolroom Movements. — There are moral lessons 
to be evolved from the movements of the schoolroom. 
Every time the child is required to stand erect when he 
recites and is not allowed to lounge ; every march that re- 



SCHOOLROOM MOVEMENTS. 21 9 

quires erect carriage of the body, regular step, and martial 
movement ; every passing to and from the class ; every 
time the child is required to sit erect in his seat and main- 
tain silence ; in short, every concerted or individual exercise 
may be made to teach moral lessons. The child thus 
learns the lesson of obedience, one of the most important 
of moral lessons. He learns self-respect also. I have 
already described the effect of discipline upon young 
men who join the German army (see p. 87). The erect 
bodies of these men, their straightened limbs, full chests, 
splendid carriage, and military bearing conveyed the 
impression at once that they had gained in self-respect, 
and they certainly had. That in itself was a moral 
victory well worth the hardship of military life and the 
two or three of the best years of their life demanded of 
them. We often look upon the military service thus 
exacted as a fearful sacrifice demanded by the Father- 
land. But it certainly brings a large return in moral 
improvement. I happen to know that this very life is 
the moral making of many a young man in Germany. So 
is it also in the school ; the movements of the school- 
room may be made of the utmost value to the child from 
a moral standpoint. Obedience, command, promptness, 
regularity, precision, are moral attributes which are thus 
most forcibly taught. The neglect of the teacher to insist 
upon the proper requirements in schoolroom movements 
will produce slip-shod habits that are immoral in them- 
selves and will lead to still graver evils. Regularity and 
system in schoolroom movements should be insisted 
upon, not only for disciplinary reasons, but because of 
the moral effect upon the school and upon the individual 
pupils. 



220 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

Proper Employment. — Many children come to our 
schools who have never been taught any employment. 
They come from the homes of the rich, or from city homes 
where there is nothing to do, or from homes of the de- 
praved where they have learned no good employment. 
Fortunate is the boy who has been brought up on the 
farm or in the home where there is something to do, and 
who has been taught the responsibility of " doing chores." 
It is such boys who are eagerly sought for by great mer- 
chants, and who become the world's leaders. But this 
lack of home training adds another duty to the teacher. 
He must teach the children to be busy, he must train them 
to employ themselves. It is the idle hands for whom 
Satan finds mischief, and if Satan is to be defeated the 
most important weapon the teacher can give the child is 
that of self-employment. (See p. 185.) Here is a deeper 
question than that of order, though every teacher knows 
that to keep children employed is one of the best antidotes 
against disorder. 

The important lesson to be taught is the moral one ; for 
he who has not learned how to set himself at work, and 
acquired the habit of employment, lacks a vital essential 
of success in life. He easily drifts into vagabondage, and 
becomes a menace to society. He is worthless as an 
employee, and does not give honest service. He seeks to 
obtain the highest wages for the least service, and does not 
mean to earn his wages if he can get out of it. The evils 
of the lack of right habit in the matter of employment are 
manifest when one watches a gang of laborers when the 
overseer turns his back, especially if the work is a public 
improvement. Who has not been indignant at the waste 
of public funds by laggards whose only aim in life is to 



MORALS AT RECESS. 221 

"kill time." An amusing incident occurred in one of our 
cities not long since. Several laborers were employed in 
the street, and they were working for the city in the usual 
way. A parrot was hanging out of a window near by and 
kept croaking, " Hurry up ! hurry up ! " While the suit- 
ableness of the bird's shouts amused the taxpayers, who 
were being robbed, it is needless to say that the workmen 
could not see the joke. I wish every teacher would feel 
the importance of teaching the children that they must 
never be idle, and that to waste time is to rob God. 

Morals at Recess. — Every teacher knows that the recess 
furnishes a large part of the disturbances of the school. 
Many have favored the abolition of the recess on moral 
grounds. I think that I show in the chapter on The 
Daily Program (p. 40) that the recess cannot be aban- 
doned. There are hygienic, as well as intellectual grounds, 
why the recess must be retained. A careful consideration 
of the question will show that there are also moral grounds 
for its retention. Of course it is understood that the ar- 
rangements of the yards and grounds are such as health 
and decency require. Let us look at some of the evils to 
be contended with. Obscenity, profanity, roughness, fight- 
ing, defacement of walls, destruction of property, are some 
of the evils of the recess. If these things are allowed, the 
greatest and most serious consequences follow. But I 
think that these tendencies may all be corrected by a wise, 
firm, and judicious teacher. Moreover, the recess may 
be made a most effective means to show the wrong of 
these things. None of these evils are encountered ex- 
cept in places where and at times when the children mingle 
freely with each other. There are two great lessons that 



222 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

can be taught in the public school better than anywhere 
else. 

I. The lesson of intellectual merit and intellectual 
superiority. This lesson is learned in the schoolroom, 
where each child rubs up against others and measures 
his intellectual strength with theirs, and this constant test 
of ability awakens, energizes, and strengthens the powers 
and prepares for life. In the home this cannot be done 
because there is lack of numbers, lack of other children 
of about the same age, lack of competent teachers, lack 
of opportunity, and lack of proper incitement. One child 
inspires another to greater effort, and the classroom 
arouses activity on the part of children. Another thing, 
it shows a child where he really belongs. Bulwer Lytton 
illustrates this idea in " The Caxtons." Mr. Caxton sent 
his son Pisistratus to school when eight years of age. 
After a year he was home for the holidays. Let me 
give Bulwer's words : " ' I hope,' said my mother, < that 
they are doing Sisty justice. I do think he is not nearly 
so quick a child as he was before he went to school. I 
wish you would examine him, Austin.' 'I have examined 
him, my dear. It is just as I expected ; and I am quite 
satisfied.' * What ! you really think he has come on ? ' said 
my mother joyfully. ' He does not care a button for 
botany now,' said Mr. Squills. ' And he used to be so 
fond of music, dear boy ! ' observed my mother with a sigh. 
' Good gracious, what noise is that ? ' < Your son's pop- 
gun against the window,' said my father. ' It is lucky it 
is only the window ; it would have made a less deafening 
noise, though, if it had been Mr. Squills' head, as it was 
yesterday morning.' ' The left ear,' observed Mr. Squills ; 
' and a very sharp blow it was, too, yet you are satisfied, 



MORALS AT RECESS. 22J 

Mr. Caxton ? ' 'Yes; I think the boy is now as great a 
blockhead as most boys of his age are/ observed my father 
with great complacency." The school had taken all the 
conceit out of the boy, and started him on the way to man- 
hood, prepared to fight his way as other boys do. It had 
shown him his place in the world, and this had been done, 
not by being tutored alone at home, but by associating 
with other boys in school. 

2. The second lesson is that of rights. While the 
schoolroom certainly teaches respect for the rights of 
others, the playground is a still better place to teach that 
lesson. The boys meet others of their own size or larger, 
and so learn to yield what belongs to others. If they some- 
times have to fight to maintain their rights, it is not alto- 
gether bad. Arnold of Rugby did not interfere with the 
quarrels of his boys, but let them fight it out ; and the 
boys were more manly after such settlement, even though 
some of them, of course, were beaten. This practice is still 
followed in English schools, and it by no means disturbs 
the general good order. It is sometimes a good thing for 
a boy to get a whipping from another boy of about his size. 
I knew a little chap about four years of age who was the 
worst tyrant in his street. He lorded it over parents and 
servants, and practiced cruelties on boys bigger than him- 
self, who disdained to hurt the little fellow ; then his 
treatment of children smaller than himself was simply 
abominable. I longed for the time to come when he 
would be big enough to take a good thrashing from an- 
other boy. There were no other children of about his age in 
the family. Several years have passed by since then and 
my wish has been fulfilled. He has gotten old enough to 
be no longer screened by youthfulness, and has taken his 



224 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

whipping by other boys, sometimes smaller than himself. 
It has done more to tame him than every other influence 
that could be brought to bear. It has civilized him, and 
will doubtless prevent his growing up a bully. 

Now, what I have said about fighting can be applied 
to the other evils above mentioned. Let the child meet 
them and be taught their wrong, and let him be led to hate 
vileness. This will be done by the instrumentality of a dis- 
creet teacher, who watches over the recess without an un- 
due censorship, but who utilizes the incidents at recess to 
bring home moral lessons which must be taught, and which 
can be better taught here than anywhere else in life. The 
playground is a place in which the child has freedom, is on 
an equality with his playmates, and is obliged to take care 
of himself, and respect the rights of others. The recess, 
then, may be a very potent means of teaching the best and 
soundest moral lessons. It must be discreetly guarded by 
the teacher so that its influence may be wholesome and 
pure, while it cultivates the sturdy and manly virtues. 

There is scarcely a thing connected with a properly 
organized school that may not be turned to moral account 
if the teacher is alive to the importance of the subject. 
My purpose is to awaken an appreciation of the value of 
the wonderful opportunities of the teacher in this direction, 
and to show how these opportunities may be utilized. 
Let us touch upon a few more agencies of the many 
that may be employed. The alert teacher will find an 
abundance of material, not only in the line of the sugges- 
tions here thrown out, but in every direction to which he 
may turn. If he is thoroughly imbued with the thought 
that he is forming character, and that this is the supreme 
purpose of all education, there will be no lack of material. 



COMMINGLING OF THE SEXES. 



225 



Commingling of the Sexes In no country in the world 

do boys and girls, youth and maiden, mingle so freely as in 
ours ; and in no country are the opportunities of the two 
sexes for education so nearly equal. I think we may claim 
that in no country is there so high a standard of purity 
among young people, and the freedom above mentioned is 
entitled to a large share of the credit for this condition. 
There is doubtless grave cause for apprehension that our 
young people are drifting into bad habits as a result of too 
great freedom in intercourse, but the school alone cannot be 
held responsible for this. Parents, who allow their sons and 
daughters out late nights unattended by older persons, who 
permit them to run the streets, and who fail to exercise a 
wholesome supervision over them, must be held accountable 
for this growing evil. Boys and girls have a mutual good 
influence upon each other in the school. The one sex 
stimulates the other, not merely to greater mental activity, 
but to higher moral ideals. This is one of the great bene- 
fits of the public school. Boys are less rough, less quarrel- 
some, less likely to use vile language, when they associate 
with girls in the school and in the home than when without 
such influence. Girls are less prudish, less sentimental, 
less self-conscious, when they mingle freely with boys in 
the school. In the home where there are brothers and 
sisters, no one would think of separating the sexes. It is 
just as natural that they should be taught together and 
allowed to associate with each other in the school, under 
such limitations as age, difference in character, and home 
environment may suggest. The teacher finds it easier to 
maintain order, to reach a high moral standard, to culti- 
vate politeness, with both sexes together than with either 
alone. 



226 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

Cowper was wrong when he inveighed, not against 
mixed schools, it is true, but against schools in general. 
He says : 

" And is he well content his son should find 
No nourishment to feed his growing mind, 
But conjugated verbs, and nouns declined ? 
For such is all the mental food purveyed 
By public hackneys in the schooling trade; 
Who feed a pupil's intellect with store 
Of syntax truly, but with little more, 
Dismiss their cares when they dismiss their flock, 
Machines themselves, and governed by a clock." 

Use of Daily Incidents Incidents occur almost daily 

in the life of the school that can be used for the moral 
good of the whole school, without either humiliating or 
unduly exalting the parties concerned. Let me relate a 
circumstance that once came under my observation which 
illustrates my point. A young teacher punished a boy for 
a supposed offense, but afterwards found that he had made 
a mistake. He went before the whole school and made a 
statement of the case, and in a manly way apologized to 
the boy and the school for the wrong done. This action, 
instead of weakening that teacher's influence, awoke an 
admiration for him that more than compensated for his 
humiliation. It taught the boys the noble lesson of for- 
giveness, worthily sought and freely given. Nor was this 
all, — some time after a neighboring window was broken 
at recess, and the irate owner of the building came to 
the school and demanded redress. The teacher called 
the boys together and said, " Boys, I have been perfectly 
frank with you, will you be frank with me ? Will not the 
boy who broke the window acknowledge it and make 
proper restitution ? The boy arose at once and said, " I did 



USE OF DAILY INCIDENTS. 227 

it, sir, and I will settle the damages." "Thank you, Wil- 
liam," said the teacher, " I was sure I could trust my boys, 
and I have not been mistaken. William will settle for the 
accident, and we may dismiss the case." What a thrill of 
noble emotion went through the hearts of all the boys, and 
what a strong moral lesson was taught, and it was inspired 
by the honorable course of the teacher a few weeks before. 
Little acts of kindness occur between pupil and pupil, 
between pupil and teacher, many times a day which should 
not be passed by without notice. Generosity, unselfish- 
ness, truthfulness, honesty, may be fostered in the hearts 
of the children by this means, and the teacher should never 
neglect the opportunity offered. 

"But it takes time," says one, "and every minute of 
the day is needed for the lessons." I know that some 
teachers are bound down to such a rigid system by the cur- 
riculum, by examinations, by the demand for immediate 
results, that they hardly know that their soul is their own. 
The evil of such a system cannot be measured. It is de- 
basing to teacher and pupils alike. There must be time 
for bringing home moral lessons to the children or the 
school is a failure, no matter how efficient it is in other re- 
spects. I have known teachers to neglect to rebuke and 
punish a lie because it would take time from the arithmetic 
lesson ! Again, I have known a school in which the chil- 
dren as a whole were perfectly indifferent to lying and 
cheating. The reason was not far to seek. A principal, 
who had been with them some six years, instead of being 
alert upon questions of morals, was eager to pass a large 
number in the Regents' examinations. Hence, lying and 
cheating were winked at, and the moral tone of the school 
was exceedingly low. If a whole lesson has to be omitted 



228 MORAL INSTRUCTION. 

to clinch some moral truth drawn from a concrete ex- 
ample, it is an exchange quite in accord with the true 
spirit and purpose of education. 

Moral Influence of the Surroundings. — Every teacher 
knows that the surroundings of the school exert a decided 
moral power. Of course this is true in the home also, but 
that is not our discussion here. Grounds that are well 
arranged, planted with trees, and decorated with flowers, 
with nicely mown lawn, the whole well cared for and clean, 
awaken not only just pride and cultivate aesthetic tastes, but 
they elevate the moral tone of the school. If the patrons 
fully appreciated the value of such surroundings upon their 
children they would tax themselves freely to secure the 
most beautiful schoolgrounds that can be obtained. 

The same is true of interior decorations. Bare walls, 
dirty floors, rough furniture, invite children to come with 
unwashed hands, uncombed hair, unclean and ragged 
clothing. "The best instruction," says Goethe, "is de- 
rived from the most complete environment." Any child 
will behave himself better in a beautiful parlor than in a 
barn. I have seen the whole nature of a child trans- 
formed by the influence of a beautiful schoolroom, and the 
dress, the cleanly habits, the good manners, of the children 
of a school never fail to produce a moral atmosphere. On 
the other hand, evil is taught by unsuitable decorations. 
The moral tone of any people or of any age may be safely 
estimated by the decorations they employ. What better 
means of knowing the depravity of the people of the over- 
whelmed city of Pompeii than the mural paintings exca- 
vated after eighteen centuries ? How important, then, that 
teachers and patrons see to it that the environment of the 



MORAL LESSONS FROM LITERATURE. 229 

school in all of its aspects be pure and beautiful, not only 
as an aesthetic, but also as a moral influence. 

Moral Lessons from Literature. — Biography, history, 
general literature, contribute a limitless fund of material 
from which the teacher may draw in imparting moral in- 
struction. Felix Adler, in his "Moral Instruction of Chil- 
dren," has marked out an extensive field from which to 
draw, and the richest source from which he draws is the 
Bible. Orison Swett Marden gives a great variety of 
incidents drawn from the lives of great men in his " Push- 
ing to the Front." These incidents are systematically 
arranged, and may be employed by the teacher for most 
practical purposes. Almost any field of literature will 
furnish examples which the teacher could collect and 
arrange against the time of need, so that it would not be 
long before he would have material to meet any exigency, 
to illustrate every phase of good, and to correct every evil 
tendency in the children. Such a collection would be a 
valuable acquisition to the "tools of trade " of any teacher. 

But the best of all sources for moral lessons is the 
Bible. I once heard in the city of Munich a lesson on 
"religion" to a class of seven-year-old boys. It was one 
of the most profitable school exercises I ever witnessed. 
The lesson was the Story of JosepJi and Jiis BretJiren. The 
various incidents in the life of Joseph, his boyhood, his 
dreams, the envy of his brethren, his sale into Egypt, the 
vicissitudes of his life there, his elevated position, had been 
related. The children had been told of the storing of 
grain in Egypt, and of the famine in Canaan ; of the visits 
of the brethren to Egypt, and of the recognition on the 
part of Joseph, but not on the part of his brethren ; of 



230 



MORAL INSTRUCTION. 



Joseph's demand for the presence of Benjamin and the 
reluctance with which Jacob consented to parting with his 
youngest son ; of the finding of the hidden cup in Benja- 
min's sack and of the plea of Judah that he might remain 
a " bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his 
brethren." All of these incidents had been taught in a 
series of lessons covering many days. The lesson that I 
heard was that of Joseph revealing himself to his brethren, 
the climax of the series. The children listened with 
breathless interest, and not a few were moved to tears as 
the pathetic incident was portrayed by a teacher whose 
voice and manner were calculated to make the story 
thoroughly realistic. There was not a child who was not 
intensely interested or who was not prepared to receive 
the splendid moral lessons which were then pointed out. 
The envy of the brethren supplanted by generosity ; the 
hatred of the boy who dared tell the dream which placed 
him over his older brothers, met, not by revenge but by for- 
giveness, on the part of Joseph ; disregard for the feel- 
ings of the father, succeeded in the later years by filial 
affection and self-sacrifice ; hard-heartedness towards the 
boy -brother that stopped little short of murder, followed 
by sincere remorse and repentance ; envy, fraternal hatred, 
cruelty on the part of the brethren, met by full, unreserved 
and complete forgiveness by Joseph. All of these and 
many more moral lessons were drawn by that skillful 
teacher, and they surely sank deep into the hearts and 
lives of the boys. Indeed, I do not know of another 
passage in literature so rich in content or so effective as 
the story of Joseph for imparting lessons in morals. 
Surely no one will object to the use of this passage 
because it is found in the Bible. And there are other 



MORAL LESSONS FROM LITERATURE. 23 I 

stories in the Bible which are entirely free from doctrinal 
bias, and yet which are full of moral lessons. Why in the 
world should they not be used ? 

And so I would have the teacher feel that the supreme 
work of the school is to form moral character. Every 
act of discipline, every lesson in reading, geography, arith- 
metic, history, or music, every thought in connection with 
the school, will have a definite moral end in view. While 
little will be said about morality, it will still be ever present 
in the mind and heart of the teacher. While no special 
period will be set apart for it, and while it will not be 
outlined in the course of study, nevertheless it is the one 
subject to which all others must give way, it is the one 
theme that may take any time or any period of the day 
to the exclusion of all other subjects, because it is the 
most important of all and the chief end for which the 
school exists. Are there evils in the school or bad habits 
in its individual members, the teacher must correct them, 
not by spasmodic efforts, but by constant, persistent, and 
systematic endeavor. In this sense, then, I would have 
systematic moral instruction in every school in our land. 
Such instruction in the schools of France for the last few 
years has resulted in diminishing juvenile criminality by 
fully one-half. It is worth the time and the cost, and 
should be carried out in the American schools to their 
great benefit. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

There are many many questions in connection with 
our scheme of education which one might consider. We 
are constantly experimenting and adding new features to 
our school curriculum until not only parents, who see their 
children overwhelmed with schoolwork, but thoughtful 
teachers as well, are demanding a halt. Now, the privilege 
of experimenting is a good thing, as by this means new 
truths are discovered and better methods evolved. Prof. 
Bertram, superintendent of the schools of Berlin, said to 
me after he had spent some months visiting the American 
schools : " There is one thing in American education that 
seemed to me particularly hopeful — the teachers are 
allowed to experiment with new theories and new ideas in 
education. Now, we Germans are bound down to such 
rigid and conservative regulations that we scarcely dare 
try anything new. By the time we have gone through the 
tedious formalities of obtaining permission from the author- 
ities to try something new, the spirit of enthusiasm is 
lost. Most teachers, therefore, simply follow the routine. 
But with you, if any one chooses to try an experiment he 
goes ahead and does it. Doubtless many ' fads ' will creep 
in and some evil be done. But they are not so dangerous 
as stagnation and the conservatism which prevents prog- 
ress," 

232 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NECESSARY. 



133 



It is true that we have had many "fads," which have 
had their day and been consigned to eternal oblivion ; but 
it is also true that some of the so-called "fads" have be- 
come established as a part of our school-work. Drawing, 
the kindergarten, manual training, nature study, were once 
called "fads," and other subjects now struggling for recog- 
nition in our schools are passing through that stage. 
Which will disappear, and which gain a foothold, it is not 
my purpose to consider. But I do wish to call atten- 
tion to a side of American education that can never be 
called a "fad," which, I fear, is sadly neglected, and 
without which no education is complete. 

I allude to religious education, and desire to invite the 
consideration of my readers to this important subject. 

Religious Education Necessary Is religious education 

necessary to complete manhood? In a word, can religion 
be omitted from a scheme of education ? I need not point 
to the fact that there exists no race of people wholly 
destitute of religion in some form. It may be gross 
fetichism or a practice which to the civilized man appears 
disgusting, it is still the recognition of something believed 
to be a higher power which demands worship. The reli- 
gious instinct is inherent in man, and it is one of the 
natural characteristics which distinguish him from lower 
creatures. If, then, the complete man is to be educated 
can the religious side be omitted ? The attitude of Chris- 
tianity from the earliest period has been that the spiritual 
side of man must be trained. The early fathers of the 
church established schools, composed suitable literature, 
and gave instruction to the adherents of the new faith. 
True, all that could be undertaken with the masses, was to 



234 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 



train them in the rites and ceremonies of the new religion ; 
it is also true that the limited few who received a broader 
education were trained chiefly for ecclesiastical service. If 
the fathers of the church thus exaggerated the religious 
side of education, it must not be forgotten that they had to 
struggle against the mighty influence of paganism, supersti- 
tion, and ignorance, and it behooved them by singleness of 
purpose to hold to the vital principle of religious training. 

Again, it. was the church that maintained schools, pre- 
served literature, and kept alive the spark of education 
during the middle ages, and once more the principle pur- 
pose of education was to fortify the church, while the 
main features of the curriculum were ecclesiastical. 
Viewed from the standpoint of the present, this policy 
seems narrow ; but when one thinks of the tremendous 
undertaking assumed by the church, and the limited 
means at her command, one must admit her wisdom in 
concentrating her efforts as she did. 

Religion in German Schools A new epoch for educa- 
tion, as well as religion, dawned upon the advent of Martin 
Luther. The great reformer sought to extend the advan- 
tages of learning beyond the narrow bounds of the priest- 
hood and the nobility. Luther appealed to the common 
people, to the masses. He arose from the ranks of the 
common people, and it was his pride and joy ever to keep 
in touch with them. In order that the people might be 
taught he translated the Bible into the German vernacular, 
while the new invention of printing made possible the mul- 
tiplication of copies of the Bible and their universal distri- 
bution. He also urged the duty and right of the state to 
assume charge of education, as the state alone could pro- 



RELIGION IN GERMAN SCHOOLS. 



2 35 



vide for its universal dissemination. While Luther says to 
parents, " Believe me, it is far more important that you 
take great care properly to train your children than that 
you seek indulgences, say many prayers, go much to 
church, or make many vows," and while he urged that 
children be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history, 
etc., he insisted that knowledge of the Bible is most 
important of all. 

This thought of Luther has never lost its hold upon the 
German mind. The corner-stone of the common school 
curriculum is religion, and no subject is more thoroughly 
and carefully taught. I once had a rare opportunity to 
witness religious instruction in a Berlin school. The prin- 
cipal gave direction to his teachers that whatever might 
be on the program when I came to the room it was to give 
place to a lesson in religion. Accordingly I began with 
the lowest class, where Bible stories are told to the chil- 
dren, and followed the course step by step through the 
eight classes, spending the entire morning session in the 
school hearing only lessons in religion. This admirable 
plan enabled me to grasp the entire purpose of religious in- 
struction, to observe the method employed with children 
of different ages, and to get a comprehensive idea of the 
amount and kind of material presented. It would be very 
profitable to my readers if I could give them a picture of 
that morning's work, if I could show them the deep sym- 
pathy between teachers and pupils, if I could indicate the 
methods so varied and suggestive, if I could point out the 
rich material for literary and historical, as well as moral 
and spiritual truth. Truly the Bible is a wonderful book ! 
Those morning hours were most inspiring ; and though 
I have visited hundreds of classrooms in German schools, I 



2J 6 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

must say that the profoundest impression, both from the 
religious and the pedagogical standpoint, was gained in that 
Berlin common school in witnessing those lessons in 
religion. 

I may merely outline the work. In the first years 
stories from the Old Testament were told, stories of the 
creation, the flood, the patriarchs, the kings, the prophets. 
The language of the teacher was always suited to the com- 
prehension of the children. Thus every child becomes 
familiar with the chief Bible characters, and the leading 
events of biblical history. And the moral lessons to be 
drawn from the richest of all literature ! The teacher 
never fails to point out the lessons of selfishness or gener- 
osity, of arrogance or humility, of sloth or zeal, of falsity 
or truth, of evil or good. The child is thus very early led 
to form his notions of the good from the teachings of the 
Holy Word, and his reverence for that sacred Book deepens 
and intensifies the lessons learned. 

In the later years of the course the pupils are led up to 
the reason of things. They study the history of Jesus 
and the Apostles, they commit texts of scripture and 
church hymns, they are taught the catechism and the 
doctrines of the church, they are made familiar with 
church history. 

Instruction in religion is carried on for five hours a week 
during the entire eight years of the course. I have not 
the slightest doubt that this instruction as conducted in 
the common schools is the most valuable of the whole 
curriculum. If the same is not true of the higher schools 
of Germany it is because many of the teachers are men 
whose heterodoxy has prevented their taking sacred orders. 
"Think," said Prof. Paulsen of Berlin to me one day, "of 



UPRIGHT MEN 237 

admitting men to teach the young in our high schools, 
whose infidelity excludes them from the pulpit ! " 

But Germany is not alone in laying stress upon religious 
instruction as necessary to prepare for complete manhood. 
Most European countries require it. Even the Board 
schools of England take for their watchword, " Religious 
but undenominational." The Duke of Wellington traced 
" the courage of the British soldier and the success of 
British enterprise to the catechism's exposition of the Ten 
Commandments." 

Upright Men But I fancy I hear some one say, " I 

am not sure that complete manhood is not reached without 
religious education. I know men who do not belong to 
the church and who do not pretend to be religious, and 
whom I would trust much sooner than some of your 
church members. They are upright, charitable, merciful 
to all, and good husbands and excellent citizens. No, 
religious instruction is not necessary." Now, I know many 
just such men whom I love and honor, and who does 
not ? But who shall say that these have not had religious 
instruction in their youth ? Many a man who still neglects 
his supremest r duty, and yet fails not in his duty to his 
fellowman, was taught to reverence God by a Christian 
mother who faithfully taught him to say his childish 
prayer, who told him of the life of the Christ, and im- 
planted in him more of religion than perhaps he now 
suspects himself to possess. Ah ! the goodness he now 
exemplifies, and which mayhap is his boast, is the result of 
that early religious instruction. I have long since given 
up attempting to judge whether or not a man is truly 
religious. Membership in a Christian church is a cri- 



238 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

terion, but it is not the only one, nor is it always a sure 
one. 

Nor is this all ; every church-spire that lifts itself towards 
heaven, every Sabbath that calls to rest and worship, every 
Christian institution, every consistent Christian life, every 
holy influence around us, brings its lessons home more or 
less to every person in the community. Who can say, 
then, that he has never had any religious instruction ? 
One's manhood is complete largely in proportion to the 
effectiveness of his religious training. In the broadest 
and best sense, then, we say that religious education is 
essential to complete manhood. 

The Religious Education of American Youth. — Let us 

now consider this question with reference to our American 
youth, and attempt to discover if our scheme of education, 
public or otherwise, secures the desired end. At the out- 
set, let me say that not a particle of pessimistic blood 
flows through my veins, but I believe that man is a patriot 
who faces danger to his country and seeks to find a 
remedy therefor. So if some of the facts that I shall 
give are startling, I am convinced that they are never- 
theless true, and it is far better to face them and seek a 
remedy than to go on in fancied security. It may hurt 
our pride concerning our glorious system of education, 
but it is better to do that than to let our children go to 
destruction. He is my best friend who, seeing my griev- 
ous faults, kindly points them out to me and helps me to 
correct them. 

I want first to call attention to the ignorance of the 
Bible among young people. Edward Everett Hale tells 
us that in a class of girls about twelve years of age, nine 



MEANS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 



239 



out of ten had never heard of Noah's Ark. A professor 
of a western university recently published the result of a 
syllabus of Bible questions submitted to a class of college 
students. I recall a few of the questions which are typi- 
cal of the whole list : " Name three kings of Israel." " Is 
the Book of Jude in the Old or New Testament?" 
"What is meant by higher criticism?" "Name three 
Hebrew prophets." "Give one of the Beatitudes." 
About a hundred students answered the questions, and 
out of the total answers less than fifty per cent were cor- 
rect. It must not be forgotten that these were college 
students in a denominational institution, that they came 
from Christian homes, and that many of them were fitting 
themselves for the ministry ! We are apt to think that 
these things could occur only in the " wild and woolly west." 
A similar test was made a few years ago in a leading 
eastern university in which Bible allusions selected from 
literature were chosen. The result was as lamentably bad 
as in the instance above cited. It is needless to multiply 
cases. Every Sunday school teacher, every intelligent ob- 
server who has given the subject any attention, has been 
painfully convinced of this defect in the education of our 
youth. 

Means of Religious Instruction. — Let us consider in 
the next place the means by which religious instruction is 
imparted in our land. There are two principal means by 
which this important work is done — the home and the 
church (chiefly the Sunday school). Now, as to the home, 
it is certainly true that many American parents fully 
appreciate the sacred responsibility placed upon them to 
train their children in the "nurture and admonition of 



CL4.0 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 



the Lord." Thank God for this ! That is as it should be. 
Many fathers and mothers realize that least of all can the 
religious training be shifted upon the shoulders of any one 
else, and therefore they take their little ones upon their 
knees, teach them to pray, tell them of God, of immortality, 
of heaven, and carefully instil into their young lives the 
sublime lessons of personal accountability to their Creator, 
of love to Him and his creatures, and of hope of immortal 
life. Yes, there are those who are faithfully discharging 
this duty, but am I not right in asserting that the great 
mass of American parents are neglectful of this God-given 
responsibility ? Was not the late Dr. Payne right when 
he said concerning religious training, " The state commits 
it to the family, the family relies upon the church, the 
church intrusts it to the Sunday school ; and between these 
several agencies, with their indifference and inefficiency, 
the one transcendent work of the republic, the proper 
education of its youth, is most negligently and imperfectly 
achieved " ? Are not parents inclined to leave the religious 
training of their children to the Sunday school, just as they 
leave the intellectual training to the day school ? 

The Sunday School. — But let us notice the work of the 
Sunday school in giving adequate religious education. Far 
be it from me to underestimate the work of this noble insti- 
tution. I was brought up in the Sunday school, and have 
always been connected with one, either as scholar, teacher, 
or officer. I love it, appreciate its glorious work, and shall 
always do what I can to further it. But it has certain 
serious limitations, which prevent and always will pre- 
vent its giving the religious instruction necessary to 
complete manhood. Let us notice some of these limi- 
tations. 



MEANS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 241 

1. The Instruction Lasts only About Thirty Minutes. — 
What teacher would undertake to give a class a proper 
knowledge of any subject in the school curriculum in 
a single half -hour's recitation per week ? How much 
arithmetic, how much history, how much Latin, or French, 
or German, would the child learn in a thirty-minute exer- 
cise occurring weekly ? And yet the most important, the 
most difficult, the most comprehensive subject, that which 
requires the most time of all subjects that make for com- 
plete education, is attempted in a half-hour's exercise once 
a week. 

2. The Lack of Trained Teachers. — It is a well estab- 
lished pedagogical maxim that the most important element 
of an educational system is the qualified teacher. No one 
will claim that the Sunday school teacher may be classed 
as trained. Indeed, every Sunday school superintendent 
knows how difficult it is to secure as teachers in his school 
the members of his church who are best qualified to teach. 
He is obliged to take young people who possess more zeal 
than knowledge. Now, I believe in Christian enthusiasm 
and would have no Sunday school teacher to be destitute of 
it, but to zeal should be added knowledge. I would not 
speak disparagingly of the Sunday school teacher, and am 
glad to admit that there are many men and women who by 
years of service and earnest consideration and study have 
come to be excellent teachers of the Bible ; but who will 
deny the truth of the general statement that our Sunday 
school teachers are untrained ? The fact is there is no 
constituted means for the young person who wishes to enter 
upon this work to make suitable preparation. The Sunday 
school in this respect is about where the day school was a 
hundred years ago when it was obliged to take such 



242 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 



teachers as it could get. If I were discussing the Sunday 
school question, I would urge the same course that the 
day school has taken, namely, provision for the preparation 
of the teachers. 

3 Irregularity of Attendance. — The United States 
Commissioner of Education devotes to the Sunday school 
nearly eighty pages in the report of 1896-97. While he 
always gives statistics showing the average attendance in 
the day school, he fails to give a single statistic concern- 
ing the average attendance in the Sunday school. It is no 
fault of his, for such statistics are unobtainable. Every 
one knows, however, that Sunday school attendance is very 
irregular. This is certainly a serious limitation upon suc- 
cessful work, whether in the Sunday school or the day 
school. I have examined the Sunday school statistics of a 
single county in New Jersey, and find that the average 
attendance for two successive years was respectively fifty- 
eight and fifty-seven per cent of the total enrollment. 
That is, only a little more than one-half of the pupils are 
found regularly at Sunday school. This county was not 
selected for its poor showing. Indeed, I suspect that this 
record is above the average, as the county is thickly 
settled, and possesses a live Sunday school organization. 

4. Lack of Study on the Part of the Scholars. — If the 
Sunday school is a hundred years behind the day school in 
the training of its teachers, surely it is not behind in adopt- 
ing those methods which tend to make life easy for the 
pupil. I have pointed out in another chapter the danger 
of doing too much for the pupil, of leading him simply to 
swallow the delectable feast which his teacher at great 
pains had prepared. Now, there is no royal road to learn- 
ing ; the way is hard and difficult, and everyone has got to 



MEANS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 043 

travel it for himself. The study of the Bible is no excep- 
tion to this rule. And yet I have known whole classes to 
come to Sunday school without having opened a Bible or 
even read the questions and notes in their lesson leaves. 
Indeed, I know one school where many of the children 
regularly deposit their lesson leaves with the librarian at 
the close of Sunday school to be kept till the opening of 
school the next Sunday. Ah, the " entertainment " idea has 
gotten a hold of the Sunday school even more than the 
day school. I wonder if the introduction of the lesson 
leaves with the isolated (often at least) passage of 
scripture is not largely responsible for this ? I think we 
must admit that our Sunday school is not leading to the 
study of the Bible to any such degree as is necessary to 
general literary culture, to a proper knowledge of religious 
life and duty, or to complete manhood. 

5. The Sunday School Enrolls Less Than Half the 
Children of Our Land. — Does this statement startle any- 
one ? It is startling, and yet, after a most careful investi- 
gation, I am convinced that not fifty per cent of the 
children of America ever attend Sunday school. And 
what about the fifty per cent who do not attend ? Is it not 
probable that the most of the parents who neglect to send 
their children to the Sunday school also neglect religious 
training in the home ? Of course this is not always so ; but 
is it unfair to assert that this is the rule ? 

With these serious limitations can any one claim that 
the Sunday school is furnishing sufficient religious train- 
ing, even to those that come under its influence ? I 
think we must admit that the means now employed for 
the religious instruction of our youth are wholly inade- 
quate and inefficient. 



244 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

I have shown that religious instruction is necessary, and 
that there is no agency now employed that suffices. I 
shall now try to point out what our American scheme of 
education has to do with this matter and how it shall do it. 

A Solution of the Problem If it seems that too much 

space has already been taken in the presentation of this 
subject, I can only plead its supreme importance, the great 
difficulties to be overcome, and the newly awakened interest 
in the question of religious instruction. 

I should like to suggest a partial solution, at least, hoping 
that some one else will be able to carry the matter farther. 
In the olden times the Scriptures were always read in the 
school, sometimes by the teacher, and sometimes the pupils 
joined by turn, and then the Divine blessing was invoked. 
Later, prohibitory laws were enacted by legislature after 
legislature, until nearly every state in the Union forbids any 
religious exercise other than reading the Bible without com- 
ment, and reciting the Lord's Prayer. A judge in one of 
the western states has recently gone so far as to decide 
that singing sacred songs must be excluded from the pubilc 
schools on the ground that it is a religious exercise ! Did 
it ever occur to my readers that the Bible, the noblest lit- 
erature in existence, the only complete record of moral pre- 
cepts, as well as the text -book and guide to higher spiritual 
living, is the only book excluded from the public schools ? 
For it is entirely excluded in some states, and in many 
cities, and is practically excluded in nearly all. There is 
nothing to prevent the Koran, the Veda, or even Fielding's 
"Tom Jones," or Swift's " Gulliver's Travels " from being 
placed in our schools except the discretion of the teacher. 
The history of Alexander, Charlemagne, or Napoleon may 



A SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. 



245 



be studied, but not that of Moses, Joshua, or David ; the 
literature of Milton, Shakespeare, or Holmes may be em- 
ployed to give noble ideals, but not that of Solomon, Isaiah, 
or Paul ; the moral system of Confucius or Buddha may be 
freely examined, but not that of Moses or Jesus. These 
are the plain facts of the case if the clear implication of 
the law is carried out. That the law has not always been 
carried out is because the strong sense of righteousness on 
the part of the noble army of Christian teachers, and the 
mighty influence of public opinion, — inherited it may be 
from our Puritan forefathers, — has been stronger than 
legislative act, secured by groveling politicians. 

This, in brief, is the history of the Bible question in the 
public schools. In our eagerness to avoid giving offense 
we have gone to a fearful extreme. Do not these words 
from the eloquent Archbishop Ireland, delivered at the 
meeting of the National Educational Association at St. 
Paul in 1890, bear out this thought? He says: "The 
school deals with immature, childish minds, upon which 
silent facts and examples make deepest impression. The 
school claims nearly all the time remaining to pupils out- 
side of rest and recreation ; to the school they will perforce, 
amid the struggles of later life, look back for inspiration. 
It treats of land and sea, but not of heaven ; it speaks of 
statesmen and warriors, but is silent on God and Christ ; 
it tells how to attain success in this world, but says noth- 
ing as to the world beyond the grave. The pupil sees and 
listens ; the conclusion is inevitable, that religion is of 
minor importance. Religious indifference will be his 
creed; his manhood will be, as his childhood in the school, 
estranged from God and the positive influences of religion. 
The brief and hurried lessons of the family fireside and the 



246 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

Sunday school will not avail. At best, the time is too 
short for that most difficult of all lessons, religion. The 
child is tired from the exacting drill of the schoolroom, and 
will not relish an extra task, of the necessity of which the 
teacher, in whom he confides most trustingly, has said 
nothing. The great mass of children receive no fireside 
lessons, and attend no Sunday school, and the great mass 
of the children of America are growing up without reli- 
gion." 

Would it not seem from the above powerful words that 
the time is at hand when this side of education must 
demand renewed attention ? I wish to outline a possible, 
or at least a partial solution. 

The Limitations as to the Use of the Bible in the Pub- 
lic School should be Removed — The public school alone 
reaches the great mass of the people. We have seen how 
inadequate is every other constituted means to accomplish 
religious training. If education is to prepare for complete 
manhood, and the state undertakes that preparation in its 
public schools, it cannot omit this most essential part of its 
work. The state must do it for its own preservation ; and 
this is peculiarly true under a government like ours, where 
the stability of our institutions depends upon the purity of 
the great body of our citizens. It seems to me that the 
logic is irresistible ; the state undertakes to prepare for 
complete manhood ; no manhood is complete without 
religious training ; hence the state ought not to omit 
religious training. 

Now, it would not be wise under the peculiar conditions 
in America to introduce courses in religion into the public 
school or to employ teachers of theology. The common 



DIFFICULTIES TO BE MET. 247 

school is the common ground upon which all classes meet, 
without regard to wealth, social position, or religious belief. 
But if the restrictions as to the use of the Bible were 
removed, the devout teacher would find occasion every day 
to lead the child to think of God and sacred things and to 
become reverential. These opportunities would occur in 
connection with history, with nature lessons, with science, 
with literature, yea, with the discipline of the school. 
The removal of these restrictions would enable the teacher 
to make use of the " silent facts and examples," which 
Bishop Ireland truly says, "make deepest impressions." 
There should be the same freedom to use the Bible that 
exists with all other books ; and even though it were called 
but little into use, the fact that it was not excluded, and 
that its teachings were held in respect, would do much to 
restore the reverence for sacred things which characterized 
our Puritan fathers, and which certainly is sadly lacking in 
our American youth. 

Difficulties to be Met. — But there are grave obstacles in 
the way. We cannot divide on the lines of Protestant and 
Catholic as they do in Germany, although they do in 
Canada where the situation is similar to ours. We have 
so many sects, so many shades of belief, that it seems to be 
impossible to establish schools on a denominational basis. 
Sectarianism can have no place in the public schools of 
America. We therefore must avoid doctrines and creeds 
in the instruction of the common school, and seek the 
common ground upon which all religious bodies stand. 
This will include, at least, the literature, history, and moral 
teachings of the Bible. An eminent divine says, " The code 
of morals for Roman Catholic and Protestant, for Jew and 



248 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

Gentile, is the same. All are agreed that honesty, sobriety, 
patience, love, are cardinal virtues. I believe that our 
teachers should have larger right of way to emphasize the 
importance of these virtues, so that with the culture and 
furnishing of the intellect, there shall come the develop- 
ment of the individual along moral lines, of religious lines, 
if you please, and yet not in a sectarian way. Our 
teachers and superintendents, as a rule, are Christian men 
and women, and there go out indirectly in their lives influ- 
ences in this direction. But yet they have not the freedom 
that I believe the people of our Christian land should give 
them to emphasize moral goodness as of the utmost im- 
portance. I speak not disparagingly of our school system 
I rejoice in its great achievements. I decry only that 
spirit which professes, in an inflated way, to think that it 
is able to furnish the individual with all the necessities of 
highest manhood and womanhood, without moral culture. 
All experience proves that there is nothing in mere knowl- 
edge to make a man a blessing or a curse. Experiments 
have demonstrated that crime, instead of diminishing, has 
actually increased with the extension of education where 
that education has been divorced from moral and spiritual 
training. I would that all our teachers might have larger 
opportunities along the lines of heart culture, that not 
indirectly but directly, they might in our public schools 
emphasize more freely than they are privileged to do at 
the present time." 

We are jealous of our religious rights, and well may we 
be ; they cost our forefathers blood, and treasure, -and self- 
sacrifice beyond all human reckoning. Will these rights 
be disturbed if the teacher is free to make widest and most 
liberal use of the literature, history, and morals of the 



DIFFICULTIES TO BE MET 



049 



Bible in connection with all his school work? Can there 
be any danger in the study of the Psalms, the Book of Job, 
or Isaiah, or Paul's Epistles as literature ? and history, are 
we not obliged to turn to the Bible for the early history of 
the human race ? As for morals, where shall we look for 
the code and the fundamental principles except in the 
written Word ? And this can be done without touching 
creeds, instruction in which must be relegated to the home 
and the church. I say we are jealous of our religious 
rights ; will not such wise and discreet use of the Word of 
God in our schools serve to fortify and strengthen these 
rights ? I verily believe that American parents would 
rejoice if their children could receive such instruction from 
the trained day-school teachers, who by daily contact and 
by their noble, Christian lives come to have a far deeper 
hold upon the hearts of their pupils than the Sunday school 
teacher can possibly have. It cannot be in this age of in- 
telligence and tolerance that parents prefer the attitude of 
indifference to holy things to positive instruction, in the 
fear that somebody will tread on their sectarian toes. 
American teachers can be trusted not to proselyte or to 
work along sectarian lines. Who has not known teachers 
to whom all parents would gladly commit the religious 
instruction of their children, certainly within such limits 
as have been herein indicated, without regard to the par- 
ticular church to which they belonged ? 

It is not for sectarian, but religions teaching that I 
plead. There is a vast difference between the two terms. 
I do not say that doctrines and creeds are not essential, I 
believe they are, — but they cannot be taught in our com- 
mon schools. If the side of religious instruction, which I 
have argued should come within the requirements of the 



5° 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 



school course, were thus attended to, the home and the 
church could easily complete the doctrinal side of the struc- 
ture according to the particular tenets of the parents. Un- 
til this is done, we must say that the American system of 
public education is not complete. Without this it must 
ever fail fully to train an American citizen, pure, intelligent, 
holy, — a man who loves his fellow-man, his country, and 
his God, and who believes and practices righteousness. 
Shall we be satisfied with a school system that does less 
than this ? 



NDEX. 



Ability, for promotion, 55. 
Academic, training of teachers, 6. 
Accuracy, test in, 46. 

in language, 160. 
Adler, Felix, on moral instruction, 

229. 
Advancement, political, 16. 
Alexander the Great, 1, 119, 142, 

244. 
American, education, 63. 

politeness of people, 61. 

public school system, 136. 
Apostles, stories from life of, 236. 
Appeal, to honor, 78. 
Apparatus, of the school, 147. 
Apperception, the process of, 159. 
Application, the final step of the 

recitation, 160. 
Aristotle, 1, 182. 

Army, German, an educational factor, 
87. 

recruits in, 86. 

teaches self-respect, 219. 
Arnold, Thomas, 142. 

ideas of discipline, 223. 
Arnold, Matthew, on conduct, 57. 
Ascham, Roger, method of, 150. 
Assistance, when to give it, 30. 
Association, the third step in the 

recitation, 158. 
Attendance, in Germany, 132, 137. 
Attention, test in, 47. 
Augustine, St., 41. 
Austria, 131. 
Authority, of the teacher, 77, 78. 

must not be domineering, 96. 
Authors, of educational literature, 
101. 



1 Bacon, influence on education, 172, 
182. 
inductive method of, 151. 
I Barnard, Henry, 131. 
Basel, center of printing industry, 204. 
Basil the Great, on punishment, 80. 
Basis, of promotion, 49. 

of teaching, 105. 
Belgium, test in schools of, 131. 
Berlin, pedagogical museum in, 134. 
politeness of children of, 59. 
recruits for army in, 86. 
religious instruction in schools of, 

2 35- 
Bertram, Prof., on American educa- 
tion, 232. 
on discipline in America, 64, 66. 
Bible, circulated by Francke, 216. 
expulsion from American schools, 

169. 
lessons from, 229. 
ignorance of, 238, 239, 243. 
in German schools, 235. 
studied by Lincoln, 187. 
translated by Luther, 123, 206, 

234- 
Boarding around, 93, 96.- 
Boastfulness, of Americans, 192. 
Body, position of, 67. 
Boniface, St., in .Germany, 123. 
Books, cheapness of, 89. 
Born, teacher not " born," 6. 
Boys, from the country, 12. 

vicious ones to be removed, 82. 
Bridgman, Laura, lessons from, 72. 
Brutality, not to be allowed, 84. 
Bruce, Robert, 118. 
Bryant, his "Forest Hymn," 126. 



251 



252 



INDEX. 



Buddha, 245. 

Building, school in Germany, 133, 

134, 135- 
Bulwer, story from, 222. 
Burgdorf, Pestalozzi at, 215. 
Burgundy, Duke of, 1, 207. 

character of, 297. 

influence of Fenelon upon, 207. 
Butler, Dr., on relative values, 115. 

Calling, of teachers, 15. 
Catechism, effect upon British sol- 
diers, 237. 
Catholics, code of morals of, 247. 

schools of, in Germany, 130, 134. 
Catskills, a school among, 94. 
Cautions, to young teachers, 21. 

about too much talking, 23. 

about use of sarcasm, 24. 

about threatening, 26. 

in giving assistance, 30. 

in regard to seeing mischief, 25. 

in regard to criticism, 27. 

in treating the dull, 28. 
Caxtons, The, story from, 223. 
Certificate, my first, 93. 

of teachers, 143. 
Character, end of school work, 85, S9. 

forming of, 34. 

habits lead to, 90. 

influence of co-education upon, 225. 

of teachers, 217. 

lack of self-control a criticism of, 
184. 

shown by a teacher, 103. 

teacher's influence upon, 140. 

virtues that make, 60. 
Character building, end of education, 

91, 184. 
Charlemagne, in education, 172, 244. 

visit to Germany, 123. 
Cheating, to be treated seriously, 90. 
Child, a law unto himself, 74. 

best good to be sought, 55. 

must have suitable material, 1 58. 

must be taught to be accurate, 90. 

nervousness of the American, 66. 

not naturally cynical, 70. 

punishment of, 79. 

responsibility of education for, 
172. 



Child study, lessons from, 40, 170. 
Children, habits of, 88. 

not naturally bad, 77. 

the gift of God, 174. 
China, compared to Japan, 149. 

educational system of, 148. 
Chinese, cultivation of memory of, 

US- 
methods, 148. 

Christ, a perfect type of manhood, 
144. 

Christianity, attitude towards educa- 
tion, 233. 

Church, attitude towards education, 

233» 2 34- 

as a factor education, 174, 180. 

educational work of, 206. 

responsibility of, 175. 
Churchill, on patriotism, 195. 
Cicero, on punishment, 80. 
Citizenship, children to be prepared 
for, 35. 

discipline to shape for, 85. 
Civics, in teaching patriotism, 197. 
Civilization, affected by Christianity, 
146. 

increasing demands of, 172. 

politeness, virtue of, 58. 
Civil society, a factor of education, 

174. 
Classification, in promotion, 52. 
Class-rank, no. 
Class-records, 108. 
Climate, affects character, 148. 
Co-education, 225. 
College, influencing life at, 177. 

fitting for, 54. 

training teachers in, 138. 
Committee of fifteen, on correlation, 
114. 

questions discussed, 49. 
Committee of twelve, on rural 

schools, 133. 
Comenius, a benefactor, 147. 

author of illustrated text-books, 

I5i- 
in education, 172. 
knowledge of, necessary, 42. 
life and work, 208. 
Compayre, on the Jesuits, 106. 
reference to Fenelon, 207. 



INDEX. 



2 53 



Compulsory attendance, in Prussia, 

137- 

Confucius, in education, 172, 245. 
Confidence, withholding of, 81. 
Conservation, of teachers, 9, 94. 
Conservatism, to be practiced, 170. 
Contract, must not be broken, 102. 
Control, of school to be had, 69. 
Cooper, story from, 117. 
Cooperstown, 117. 
Corporal punishment, 83. 

in Germany, 135. 
Correlation, for practical teachers, 
114. 

material of, 129. 

practical, 116. 
Country schools, teaching in, 95. 
Course of study, attention to, 86. 

how planned, 50, 53. 

to be correlated, 114, 115. 
Courtesy, between teachers, 104. 
Crawford, on teaching self-control, 

185. 
Criticism, by ignorant critics, 130. 

of schools, 166, 173. 

must not be the prevailing spirit, 

27, 38- 
Cowper, opinion of schools, 226. 

Danger, in too rapid promotion, 52. 

patriotism in time of, 195. 
Darius, at Arbela, 119. 
David, 245. 

Davy, Sir Humphry, 187. 
Decorations, moral influence of, 22S. 

of schools in Germany, 135. 
Definitions, in spelling exercise, 34. 
Desire, for self-improvement, 17. 

to be useful to others, 19. 
Development, of history of education, 

144. 
Diary, kept by German boys, 12S. 
Difficulties, of teachers, fewer, 92. 
Disciples, of Prof. Stoy, 127. 
Discipline, a difficult matter, 65. 

a means to an end, 84. 

example of, 73, 226. 

German idea of, 63. 

improvement in, 75. 

in American schools, 63. 

in English schools, 223. 



Discipline, in New York Normal Col- 
lege, 64. 

in the German army, 87. 

in state and school, 76. 

methods of, 77. 

not to be fussy, 69. 

of Laura Bridgman, 72. 

philosophy of, 75. 

purpose of, 76. 

to be free, 35. 

to be natural, 26, 32. 

should teach morals, 231. 
District school, 146. 
Drill, lack of, 160. 
Dullness, treatment of, 28. 

Easter, beginning of German school 

year, 130. 
Edison, 136. 
Education, history of, 143. 

influence of German, 131. 

most important end of, 91. 

religious, in America, 233. 

self-activity, 31. 
Educational, literature, 101. 

systems, 147. 
Educators, inspiration from lives of, 

202. 
Efficiency of teachers, 104. 
Effort, to be encouraged, 27. 
Egyptians, good mathematicians, 145. 
Eisenach, Luther at, 205. 

school of forestry at, 122. 
Emancipation, in education, 182. 
Emerson, on politeness, 57. 
Employment, conducive to morals, 

220. 
Emulation, how employed, 36. 
Emile, of Rousseau, 80, 142. 
Ends, of discipline, 76. 
Engineering, as a profession, 100. 
England, growth of school attend- 
ance in, 145. 

history of, 119. 

opinion of Germans of, 131. 

religious instruction in, 237. 

work of Comenius in, 208. 
English, bravery of sailors, 58. 

discipline in schools, 223. 
Enthusiasm, in schoolwork, 95. 
Environment, in correlation, 115. 



2 5 4 



INDEX. 



Environment, in study of history of 
education, 145. 

moral effect of, 228. 
Erasmus, compared with Luther, 205. 

early life of, 187, 203. 

in education, 172. 

pedagogy of, 204. 
Erfurt, Francke's preaching at, 210. 
Etiquette, forms of, to be taught, 61. 

professional, 100. 
Evil, not to be anticipated, 22. 
Examinations, in determining promo- 
tion, 53. 

of teachers in Germany, 139. 

preparation for, 86. 
Expenditures, in Germany and Amer- 
ica, compared, 136. 

parents to provide for, 177. 
Experience, gained in a country 
school, 95. 

in boarding around, 96. 

in correlation, 116, it 9. 

to be utilized, 128, 169. 
Exposition, Columbian, 63. 

"Chicago Day" at, 64. 
Expulsion, a last resort, 83. 
Extremes, in American life, 162. 

in politics, 162. 

in religion, 163. 

in spelling reform, 165. 

in temperance, 164. 

Faculty, to be final judge of promo- 
tion, 55. 
" Fads," in American schools, 1 70, 

232. 
Family, authority of, 146. 
was the first school, 146. 
visiting in, 97. 
Faraday, early hardships of, 187. 
Farm, boys from, 12, 220. 
German soldiers from, 86. 
teachers from, 13. 
Farmer, life of, compared with teach- 
er's, 8, 95. 
incentives of, 107. 
methods of, 155. 
Fatherland, soldiers of, 87. 
Fathers, church, attitude towards edu- 
cation, 233. 
Fenelon, a benefactor, 147. 



Fenelon, his methods, 207. 

his writings, 207. 

influence over Duke of Burgundy, 
207. 
Fighting, sometimes justifiable, 223. 
Fitness, for promotion, 55. 
Forests, preservation of, 122. 

of Thuringia, 121, 122, 126. 
Foresters, in Germany, 122. 
Forms, of politeness, 58, 61. 
France, commercial enterprise of, 145. 

defeat of, 131. 

history of, 119. 

moral lessons in schools of, 231. 
Francke, life and work, 209. 

" Institutions " of, 209, 210. 

Orphan Asylum at Halle, 211. 

Pedagogical work of, 212. 
Franklin, early struggles of, 187. 
Frederick the Great, school regula- 
tion of, 2. 
Freedom, in education, 35, 3-/, 66, 68. 

of intelligence, 182. 
Friedrich, Prof., accuracy test, 46. 

a benefactor, 147. 
Froebel, a knowledge of, necessary, 
142. 

birthplace of, 123. 

on teaching, 94. 

the kindergarten, 151. 

Games, as a motive for rivalry, 106. 
Garfield, on possibilities of boys, 5. 
Geography, lessons in, 127. 

taught by correlation, 118, 119. 
Generosity, how fostered, 227. 
German Christmas, 156. 
German common school, 130, 132. 
German education, 131. 
German schools, a trip with one, 121. 

of interest to Americans, 130. 

lessons from, 135. 

religion in, 234. 

sessions in, 47. 

train soldiers, 68. 

tests in, 46. 
German teachers, on a summer trip, 
121, 129. 

opinion of our schools of, 6^. 

pay of, 133. 
Germany, a national holiday in, 199. 



INDEX. 



55 



Germany, commercial enterprise of, 

145- 

Francke's teachers in, 213. 

marriage of teachers in, 14. 

politeness of children, 59. 

religion in, 163. 

school attendance in, 137. 

schools of, 130. 

teachers in, 2. 
Girls, education of, 205. 

habits of, 88. 

from the country, 13. 

purpose of, in becoming teachers, 
14. 

schools for, in Germany, 134. 

vocations open to, 14. 
Gladstone, 182. 

Glaucha, Francke's work at, 210. 
Golden Rule, to be patterned after, 

62. 
Goethe, quotation from, 228. 
Gotha, Francke at, 210. 
Government, German idea of, 64. 

instability of, 163. 

of America, 194. 

of the school, 78. 
Grading, of German schools, 133. 
Graduates, of normal schools in Ger- 
many, 138. 

of Oswego Normal School, 168. 
Great Teacher, 9, 10, 39, 81. 

inspiration from, 153. 

teachings of, 164. 
Growth, cannot be forced, 54. 

intellectual, 17. 

versus promotion, 50. 
Gutenberg, inventor of printing, 204. 

Habit, as an end of schoolwork, 85. 

intellectual, 88. 

moral, 87, 90. 

physical, 86. 

what habit is, 85. 
Habits, methodical, 71. 
Halle, Francke's professorship at, 

210. 
Handicap, from lack of politeness, 57. 
Hanover, public school at, 59. 
Harris, Dr., on correlation, 114. 

on promotion, 52, 53. 
Harshness, to be avoided, 71, St, 84. 



Heidelberg, University of, 1 10. 
Herbartian School, 114. 

theory of, 155. 
Hindu, regard for the child, 146. 
History, sacred, should be taught, 246. 

taught by correlation, 118, 119. 
History of education, a development, 
144. 

comes first in pedagogical course, 

143- 

importance of the study of, 142. 

plan of study of, 145. 
Holland, effect of German system 
upon, 131. 

history of, 119. 

work of Comenius in, 208. 
Holmes, 245. 
Home, as a factor in education, 146, 

174. 
Home-work, to be superintended by 

parents, 176. 
Honesty, how fostered, 227. 

in seeking for truth, 136. 
Honor, appealed to, 78. 

as a means of ranking, 1 10. 
Hospitality, in "boarding around," 



Ideals, of government, 79. 

of patriotism, 200. 

of the teacher, 9, 91, 176. 
Incentives, highest, 112. 

of the school, 106. 
Incident, with a German school, 112. 
Individual, development of, 144. 

needs of, considered, 80. 

rights of, 76, 77. 
Industrial School, of Pestalozzi, 214. 
Inspiration, from educators, 147, 151. 

of teaching, 98, 176. 
Inselsberg, a trip to, 127. 
Instruction, the object of the recita- 
tion, 154. 
Integrity, of public officials, required, 

179. 
Intellectual growth, 17. 

habits, 87. 
" Institutions," Francke's, at Halle, 

211. 
Isolation, as a means of punishment, 
81. 



i$6 



INDEX. 



Interest, in history of education in- 
creased, 143. 
must be awakened, 38, 157. 
Invention, by the Chinese, 149. 

of printing, 204. 
Investigations, as to daily program, 
41. 
by teachers suggested, 48. 
of the German system, 130. 
Ireland, Archbishop, on religious 

training, 245, 247. 
Isaiah, 245. 

Japan, compared to China, 149. 

influence of Germany upon, 131. 
Jena, Seminary at, 121. 

University at, 128. 
Jesuits, emulation of, 106. 
Jesus, moral system of, 245. 

stories from life of, 236. 
Jew, code of morals of, 247. 

regard for children, 146, 174. 
Joseph, story from, 229. 
Joshua, 245. 

Keilhau, birthplace of Froebel, 123. 

Keller, Helen, 72. 

Kern, on reproducing matter learned, 

x 59- 

Kindergarten, explained by Fi-oebel, 

151. 
must present suitable material, 158. 
Koran, use not forbidden, 142, 244. 
Krohn, Prof., memory test, 42, 46. 
Kriisi, concerning German schools, 

I 3 I - 
opinion of Pestalozzi, 214, 215. 

Lamson, Mary, teacher of Laura 

Bridgman, 73. 
Language, correct use of, 88, 160. 

knowledge of German, 131. 
Laws, concerning religious instruc- 
tion, 244. 
frequent changes in, 163. 
not a hardship to most people, 78. 
Leadership, men capable of, wanted, 

188. 
Lessons, taught in public school, 222. 
from German schools, 135, 137, 
140. 



Lessons on a summer trip, 125, 126, 

127. 
Letters, to be used in marking, 56. 
Library, used in correlation, 117, 118. 

in American schools, 63. 
Liberty, of American teachers, 63. 
Life, school a preparation for, 38, 
no, 160. 

success in, 188. 
Limitations, in use of the Bible, 246. 
Lincoln, books he read, 187. 

call for troops, 195. 

quotation from, 64. 
Literature, educational, to be sup- 
ported, 101, 118. 

love for good, 88, 89. 

sacred, should be taught, 248. 
Locke, on education, 172. 
Love, to characterize the spirit of the 

school, 38. 
Luther, as an educator, 172, 206. 

compared with Erasmus, 205. 

knowledge of, essential, 1 52. 

influence upon German education, 
206, 234. 

land of, 164. 

lived in Thiiringia, 123. 

life of, 205. 

monument of, 128, 160. 

opinion of teachers of, 1. 
Lying, must not be made light of, 
90, 227. 

Mann, Horace, 41, 131, 142. 
Marden, on morals, 229. 

recipe for politeness, 62. 
Marking, as an incentive, 107. 

proper use of, 108. 
Marriage, of teachers, 14. 
Massachusetts, normal graduates 

from, 138. 
McMurry, Dr., on relative values, 

Medicine, profession of, 99. 
Memory, of a reproof, 81. 

of a summer trip, 121. 

test in, 42. 

training of, 88, 115, 128. 

use of, by teachers, 109. 

use of, by Chinese, 149. 
Men, teachers, in New York State, 94, 



INDEX. 



^57 



Men, great, often were dull boys, 28. 

wages of, 16. 
Meri% rewards of, ill. 
Method, a wrong, 33. 

of assigning lessons, 30. 

of Fenelon, 207. 

of Francke, 212. 

of Montaigne, 150. 
Milton, 245. 
Mischief, of pupils, 92. 

not always to be seen, 25, 29. 
Mixed schools, furnish experience, 

?5- . 

recitation in, 40. 

Mohra, Luther monument at, 128. 
Montaigne, method of, 1 50. 
Monasteries, contained manuscripts, 

204. 
Monument, of Luther, 128, 160. 

of Stoy, 127. 
Moral instruction, 217, 236. 
Moral sense, 74. 
Morals, at recess, 221. 

awakened by frankness, 24. 

endangered by bad boys, 82. 

established by physical training, 87. 

effect of society upon, 1 79. 

gained from literature, 89, 229. 

in daily incidents, 226. 

in mixing of the sexes, 225. 

in proper employment, 220. 

in public affairs, 179. 

in self-employment, 191. 

in surroundings, 228. 

in schoolroom movements, 217. 

of the Bible, 248. 

of the school, 176. 

standard of, 22, 73. 

taught by correlation, 118. 
Moses, 245. 
Mother, influence of, 237. 

natural educator of the child, 204. 
Motives, for becoming a teacher, 11, 
17, iS, 19, 94. 

for marking, 108. 

of prizes, 1 1 1 . 

of work in children, 36. 
Munich, a lesson at, 229. 
Museum, pedagogical, at Berlin, 134. 
Music, in training the voice, 88. 

while marching, 125. 



Napoleon, 244. 

Natural Educational Association, 

49, 114. 
"National Method," 150. 
Nero, pupil of Seneca, 1. 
Neuhof, Pestalozzi's work at, 214. 
New England, education in, 178. 
New Jersey, normal course in, 1 5. 

Sunday School statistics of, 242. 
New York, a principal in, 90. 

changes in politics of, 162. 

experience in, 162. 
New Testament, questions from, 239. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 182. 
Nile, annual overflow of, 145. 
Noise, not always disorder, 67, 71, 

72. 
Normal College of New York, disci- 
pline in, 64. 
Normal School, at Halle, 212. 

at Oneonta, 140. 

course of, in history of education, 

143- 
graduates of, in Prussia, 138. 
of Massachusetts, 138. 
of Oswego, 167. 

Obedience, in the German army, 219. 

taught by Erasmus, 205. 

to be taught every child, 60, 72. 
Object teaching, 157, 167. 
Objects, not too many to be used, 

167. 
Observation, acuteness of German 

boys', 128. 
Odell, Gov., on politics, 197. 
Ohio, a position in a city of, 103. 
Old Testament, questions from, 239. 

stories from, 230. 
Oneonta, normal school at, 140. 
Opinion, of the teacher in grading, 56, 
Opportunities, of the teaching pro- 
fession, 19. 
Organizations, of teachers, 104. 
Order, a habit of, 86. 

a kind of, 32, 73. 

importance of, 65, 67. 

in employment of children, 220. 

in the schoolroom, 63. 

not absolute stillness, 66. 

not formal position of body, 67. 



2$$ 



INDEX. 



Order, not to be over-anxious about 
mischief, 69. 
requires self-control, 71. 
Oriental, character of people, 144. 
Orphan Asylum, at Halle, 211. 

Parents, American, religious instruc- 
tion by, 239. 

authority of, 146. 

criticism of school by, 166, 173. 

in disciplining children, 66. 

in regard to promotion, 55. 

in Germany, 132. 

natural teacher of the child, 182. 

responsibility of, 175. 

should be consulted, 82. 

should be interested, ^8. 

should be warned, 8^. 

teach self-control, 184. 

wisdom of, in choosing place of 
residence, 178. 
Parker, Col., 131. 
Partisanship, not patriotism, 194. 
Patience, to be exercised, 28. 
Paternalism, in Germany, 64. 
Patriotism, creates high ideals, 200. 

in Germany, 199. 

in public schools, 200. 

in songs and sentiments, 198. 

in time of danger, 195. 

in time of peace, 196. 

motive for becoming a teacher, 18. 
Paulsen, Prof., on religious instruc- 
tion, 236. 
Payne, on religious instruction, 240. 
Peace, patriotism in time of, 196. 
Pedagogics, important lesson in, 113. 

recent movements in, 41. 
Pedagogical, chairs of, 7. 

conference of, 125. 

experience given, 121. 

literature, 105, 130. 

museum at Berlin, 134. 

sins covered, 96. 

theory and practice, 112. 

training of teachers in Germany, 

139. 
Pendulum, swing of, in education, 162. 
in object lessons, 167. 
in politics, 162. 
in religion, 163. 



Pendulum, in spelling, 165. 

in temperance, 164. 

in use of text -books, 169. 
Penmanship in German schools, 132. 

taught by correlation, 118. 
Periodicals, teachers', 49. 
Permanence, of teachers, 104, 138, 

139. 
Persians, cultivation of senses, 115. 

history of, 119. 
Peter, Christ's reproof of, 81. 
Pestalozzi, a benefactor, 147. 

failures of, 214. 

inspiration from, 152. 

knowledge of, 142. 

life with his pupils, 4, 152. 

object teaching of, 151. 

opinion of the office of teaching, 3. 

purpose of, 213. 

work with children, 214. 

writings, 214. 
Philosophy, educational, 41. 

of school discipline, 75. 
Pioneers, of Cooper, 117. 
Plan, of study, in history of educa- 
tion, 145. 
Plato, in education, 172. 
Playground, teacher upon, 96. 
Pliny, method of, 150. 
Poland, work of Comenius in, 208. 
Politics, changes in, 162. 
Politeness, in American children, 60. 

in German children, 59. 

forms of, 61. 

form versus spirit, 58. 

influence of education upon, 225. 

lack of handicaps, 57. 

spirit of, 61. 

taught by Erasmus, 204. 

the virtue of civilization, 58. 
Pompeii, mural paintings of, 228. 
Posen, number of pupils to a teacher 

in, 134. 
Position, my first, 94. 

may be sought for, 103. 
Potsdam, German recruits at, 87. 
Praise, to be generous, 27. 
Preparation, the first step in the 

recitation, 155. 
Presentation, the second step in the 
recitation, 156. 



INDEX. 



259 



Prince, Dr., on promotion, 52. 
Princeton, educational advantages of, 

178. 
Principle, of punishment, 79, 80. 
Printing, invention of, 204. 
Pivileges, in the schoolroom, 35, 76, 
106. 

withdrawal of, 81. 
Prizes, giving of, 106, in. 
Problem, of education, 172. 
Program, daily, 221. . 

arrangement of, 40. 

in German schools, 132. 

should include seat -work, 71. 
Profession, of teaching, 99, 152. 

better candidates entering, 14. 

nobility of, 10. 
Professional spirit, among teachers, 
2, 99. 

fitness, 7. 

in teachers' organizations, 104. 

in lawyers and physicians, 101. 

standing of teachers, n. 

training, 5. 
Promotion, basis of, 49. 

class teacher to be judge of, 55. 

danger of too rapid, 51. 

frequency of, 53. 

growth versus, 50. 

of teachers, 49. 
Promptness, in daily exercises, 95. 
Protestants, code of morals of, 247. 

schools of, in Germany, 130, 134. 
Prussia, early teachers of, 99. 

representative from, 63. 

salaries of teachers of, 7. 

school attendance in, 137. 

school regulation of, 2. 

trained teachers of, 138. 

victories of, 165. 
Psychology, of habit, 85. 

teachings of, 41. 
Publishers, of educational literature, 

101. 
Punishment, a method of discipline, 

79- 
corporal, 83, 135. 
kinds of, 80. 

principles governing, 79, 80. 
Pupils, as to promotion, 51. 
incitement of, no. 



Pupils, interest in marching, 108. 
Puritan fathers, lessons from, 245. 
Purpose, of discipline, 76. 

Rank, as an incentive, no. 
Ratke, method of, 150. 
Recipe, for politeness, 62. 
Recapitulation, the fourth step in the 

recitation, 159. 
Recess, morals at, 221, 224. 
necessity of, 48. 
rest at, valuable, 44. 
Recitation, five steps of, 155. 
importance of, 154. 
in mixed schools, 40. 
marking in, 108, 109. 
object of, 107. 
Record, of the recitation, 109. 
Reform, end to be sought in disci- 
pline, 77, 79- 
schools of, 8^. 
Reformation, as a result of punish- 
ment, 84. 
the German, 206. 
Regents, New York, examinations 

by, 90, 227. 
Regularity, of attendance in Ger- 
many, 137. 
Religion, in the educational scheme 
of Erasmus, 205. 
extremes in, 163. 
Religious education, 180, 232. 

affects the whole problem of edu- 
cation, 145. 
difficulties to be met, 247. 
forms the upright man, 237. 
in German schools, 234. 
in the Sunday school, 240. 
means of, 239. 
necessary to complete manhood, 

181, 233. 
of American youth, 238. 
sectarian versus religious teaching, 

249. 
solution of the problem in Amer- 
ica, 244. 
use of Bible in school, 246. 
Reminiscences, of "boarding around," 

97- 
of my first school, 92. 
Repression, not to be practiced, 70. 



aGo 



INDEX. 



Reproof, as a form of punishment, 

81. 
Responsibility, for the education of 
the child, 172. 

in fixing habits, 85. 

of society, 177. 

of the home, 174. 

of the school, 176. 

of the State, 179. 

of the Church, 180. 

of teacher in morals, 82, 191. 
Rewards, of merit, in, 112. 

of the schoolroom, 106. 

of the teacher, 7. 
Rights, a lesson of, 223. 

of individuals, 76. 

of good pupils, 82. 
Ridicule, to be avoided, 24. 
Ripeness, for promotion, 55. 
Rivalry, to be encouraged, 106. 
Roark, Professor, on character of 

teacher, 9. 
Rod, use of, 83. 
Rome, education in, 174. 

system of, 148. 
Rosenkranz, definition of education, 

on politeness, 58. 

on stages of development, 190. 
Rousseau, influence on education, 2. 

knowledge of, essential, 142. 

on habits, 85. 

on punishment, 80. 
Rules, how to make them, 22, 23. 

make but few, 21. 

necessity of, 77. 

not to be anticipated, 79. 

not the best means of controlling, 
37- 

Salaries, in Germany, 133. 

how increased, 105. 

not the chief motive, 95. 

of men and women, 16. 

of teachers, 7. 

should be sustained, 102. 
Saint Simon, opinion of Duke of 

Burgundy, 207. 
Sarcasm, to be avoided, 24, 81. 
Scholastics, cultivation of reason, 
US- 



Scholastics, subtleties of, 150. 
School, advantages of, 106. 

a factor in education, 174, 176. 

a type of, 32. 

aims to form habits, 85. 

county superintendent of, 16. 

discipline in, 76. 

early versus modern, 186. 

German, 68. 

government of, 78. 

in training for life, 189. 

incentives in, 106. 

inspiration of my first, 95. 

must be kept pure, 82. 

must form character, 91. 

necessity for, 172. 

privileges in, 81. 
School board, in choice of teacher, 
104. 

may expel, 83. 

to be notified of serious punish- 
ments, 83. 
School grounds, must be properly ar- 
ranged, 221. 

order upon, 76. 
Schoolroom, good order in, 71, 76. 

isolation in, 81. 

movements of, 218, 219. 

privileges in, 35. 

spirit of, 32. 

tends to narrow views, 104. 
Schools, of Germany, 130, 132. 

necessity for, 175. 

patriotism in, 200. 

reading scriptures in, 244. 

religion in German schools, 234. 

teachers of, in the country, 40, 95. 
Schmidt, Karl, quotation from, 41, 

144. 
Schuyten, Dr., test in attention, 47. 
Science, taught by correlation, 118. 
Scott, Sir Walter, 118. 
Sectarianism, may not be taught in 

public schools, 248, 249. 
Sections, of classes in grading, 54. 
Self-activity, 31. 

most important principle, 157. 
Self-conceit, 105. 
Self-control, example of, 73. 

how to teach it, 184. 

importance of, 183. 



INDEX. 



26l 



Self -control, in discipline, 33, 84. 

taught by carriage of body, 86, 87. 

to be encouraged, 37, 64, 65. 
Self-consciousness, 87. 
Self-employment, necessary to suc- 
cess, 188. 

of boys in the early school, 186. 
Self-government, example of, 73, 84. 
Self-improvement, of teachers, 10, 17. 
Self-reliance, of Luther, 65, 205. 

of pupils, no. 
Self-respect, 219. 
Seneca, on punishment, 79. 

teacher of Nero, 1. 
Sentiments, patriotic, 198. 
Service, time of, in Germany, 139. 
Sexes, commingling of, 225. 
Shakespeare, 245. 
Shaw, Dr., on promotion, 50. 
Sheldon, E. A., at Oswego, 167. 
Sherman, General, patriotism of, 195. 
Society, work of, in education, 177. 
Socrates, a benefactor, 147 

in education, 172. 
Solomon, 245. 
Songs, patriotic, to be taught, 198. 

sacred, forbidden in schools, 244. 

those of German boys, 125. 
Spanish war, awakened patriotism, 

196. 
Spelling, a method of, 33. 

extremes in methods, 166. 

to be correlated, 118. 
Spelling-book, abolition of, a mis- 
take, 166. 
Spencer, on discipline, 80. 
Spirit, of American educators, 141. 

of politeness, 58, 61. 

of the schoolroom, 32. 

of the teacher, 33. 

to awaken interest, 38. 

to be possessed of love, 38. 

to foster freedom, 35. 

to teach unselfishness, 36. 

to train in self-control, 37. 

to be professional, 99, 100, 102. 
St. Augustine, on education, 172. 
Standard, of government, 73. 
Stanz, in connection with Pestalozzi, 

4, 215. 
State, discipline in, 76. 



State, its work in education, 179, 206. 

its part in religious education, 246. 

system of education, 100. 
Stead, W. T.,on " Natural Method," 

150. 
Stillness, not to be absolute, 66. 
Stimulus, for schoolwork, 113. 
Stoy, Professor, 121. 

monument of, 127. 
Studies, correlation of, 114. 
Success, in life, 188. 
Summer trip, with German school, 

121, 129. 
Sunday school, as a means of reli- 
gious instruction, 239, 240. 

lack of study in, 242. 

lack of trained teachers in, 241. 

limitations of, 241. 

reaches but few, 243. 

responsibility of, in education, 175. 
Superintendent, of a New Jersey 
city, 103. 

State, 16. 
Supervision, by the State, 100. 
Support, of educational literature, 

101. 
Suspension, as a punishment, 82, 83. 
Sweden, influence of Germany upon, 

. I 3 I - 

Switzerland, Pestalozzi in, 3. 

Symmetry, of studies, 115. 
Sympathy, between teacher and pupil, 

81, 96, 125, 135. 
System, of promotion, 53, 54, 55. 

of schools in Germany, 130. 
Systems, of education, 147. 

weaknesses of ours, 148. 

Talk, too much, to be avoided, 23. 
Taste, for the good and pure, 88. 
Teacher, a type of, 32. 

dislikes to suspend, 82. 

essentials for, 2. 

has high ideals, 65. 

higher ideals of, 9. 

in forming habits, 85. 

in discipline, 65. 

must have the school with him, 77, 
81. 

must have good habits, 91. 

must not be brutal, 84. 



i6i 



INDEX. 



Teacher, must support educational 
literature, 101. 

professional spirit of, 102. 

respect for, 1. 

rewards of, 7. 

salaries of, 7. 

self-sacrificing spirit of, 2. 

self -improvement of, 9. 

supports teachers' organizations, 
104. 

Stoy as a teacher, 127. 

the Greek teacher, 10. 

to lead pupils to self-control, 37. 

to judge of promotions, 53. 

training of, 5. 

the old-time teacher, 1. 

utilizes literature, 89. 

use of marking, 108. 

use of prizes, ill. 

use of punishment, 79. 
Teachers, address to young teachers, 
11. 

can apply correlation, 119. 

cautions to, 21. 

encouragement for, 202. 

from the farm, 13. 

German, with pupils, 124. 

have fewer difficulties, 92. 

helped by correlation, 116. 

inspiration from, 151. 

keeping order by, 68, 70. 

morality of, 217. 

marriage of, 14. 

must be qualified, 100. 

must not expect parents to in- 
struct, 175. 

of Prussia, 99, 133. 

periodicals of, 49. 

responsibilities of, 165, 191. 

to study arrangement of program, 

45- 
to be better trained, 138. 
training of, at Halle, 212. 
use of text-books by, 169. 
Teaching, a grand vocation, 98. 
a profession, 99. 
method of, 154. 

motives for entering, 17, 18, 19. 
of patriotism, 193. 
of self-control, 184. 
temporary nature of, 15. 



Temperance, extremes in, 164. 

Ten Commandments, effect of, on 

British soldiers, 237. 
Test, in accuracy, 46. 

in attention, 47. 

in memory, 42. 
Text-books, illustrated, 151. 

uniformity of, 22. 

use of, 169. 
Theory, of correlation, 114. 

of government, 197. 
Thought, versus tradition, 149. 
Threatening, not to be employed, 26. 
Thiiringia, manufacturing interests 
of, 129. 

the forest of, 121, 122, 126. 
Tradition, versus thought, 149. 
Transportation, of German school 

children, 124. 
Training, of good men, 8. 

of the teacher, 5, 21. 

to self-control, 184. 
Trenton, battle of, 1 56. 
Trials, of teachers, 92. 
Trip, with a German school, 112, 

121, 124. 
Trustee, a particular one, 97. 

in country districts, 93. 

in New York State, 139. 
Truthfulness, how fostered, 227 
Type, of school, 32. 

Undermining, of fellow-teachers, 

102. 
United States, 103. 

commissioners' report on Sunday 

schools, 242. 
Universities, of Germany, no. 
Unselfishness, how fostered, 227. 

shown in politeness, 58, 61. 
Upright men, effect of religion upon, 

237- 

Veda, use not forbidden in schools, 
244. 

Ventilation, of German school build- 
ings, 135. 

Vienna, testimony of school principal 
in, 131. 

Voice, pitch of, 88. 

Volksschule, of Germany, 132. 



INDEX. 



263 



Wages, of men and women, 16. 
Warning, 77, 83. 
Washington, at Trenton, 150. 

knowledge of, 142. 
Waste, of public funds, 220. 

of time, 221. 
Webster, on habit, 85. 
Wellington, Duke of, on religious 

training, 237. 
Weimar, 122. 

White, Dr., on rural schools, 133. 
Whispering, and good order, 86. 

treatment of, 35. 



Women, increased respect for, 147. 

wages of, 16. 
Writings, of Comenius, 208. 

of Erasmus, 204. 

of Fenelon, 207. 

of Luther, 206. 

of Pestalozzi, 214. 
Wurzburg, test in school at, 46. 

Yverdon, Pestalozzi's work at, 215. 

Zeal, in Sunday school work, 241. 



Roark's Outline of Pedagogy 



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